


Somewhere, a Place for Us { Klaine }

by Rowan_13



Category: Glee
Genre: Dalton Academy, Dalton Blaine Anderson/Kurt Hummel, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-26
Updated: 2017-05-01
Packaged: 2018-09-02 10:53:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 43,065
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8664889
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rowan_13/pseuds/Rowan_13
Summary: When Kurt Hummel first arrived at Dalton, it was a little more than obvious that there was something intriguing about the Warblers. He never could have expected such an eclectic mix to get on yet Kurt suddenly finds himself thrown into the most tight knit group of friends he's ever met.Life for the Dalton Academy Warblers is anything but ordinary.





	1. Saving the Dormouse

**Author's Note:**

> So, a new story.
> 
> This one is more centred on all of the boys at Dalton though it is still technically Klaine (it is hopefully going to have not-necessarily-excessively long chapters too so yay).  
> My friends and I have always called ourselves fairy tale character names, ever since we were little. I was always Snow White because of my dark hair and pale skin until recently, when I came out, and they started calling me Christopher Robin. My friend, Matthew (who looks identical to season one Kurt, it is as brilliant as it sounds because Single Ladies is his go-to dance move), is Peter Pan whilst Mark is Elsa due to his white hair. This has also resulted in me using fairy tale metaphors in all of my creative writing for years so I wanted an excuse to write a whole story based around fairy tales. However, I did take some inspiration from CP Coulter's Dalton though I would have come to this story regardless of whether I'd read that or not.
> 
> This is going to written slightly differently. When the boys are all together, it will be third person and we will go into different points of view when they split into small groups. I hope that is okay.  
> (A change is being made. Chapter four and onwards are going to be all third person and I will eventually go back to change the first three chapters).
> 
> This, as per usual, will probably touch on some very serious issues (because let's face it, I can't write if it isn't depressing). I shall now include of list of topics which may (strong use of the word 'may') come up in this story (though at the same time, this story isn't limited to):  
> Depression  
> Self-harm  
> Social anxiety  
> Anorexia verging on Bulimia  
> Homophobic slurs  
> Please do not read this if it might trigger you. I will try to warn you when it crops up, just please know what this story entails before reading. I may not always get the right moments and I sometimes make mistakes so if there is a real threat to your safety, do not continue. I love all of you and I want you all to know that you are lovely, please do not put yourself in harm's way.
> 
> ~ Rowan

"I think your son will really like it at Dalton Academy, Mr Hummel. Honestly, you shouldn't worry about him." Kurt Hummel approached a grand building with his father, led by a boy with dark hair and golden eyes as they marvelled at the sight of the ornate railings and large windows, "I've known Kurt for a few weeks now and I know he'll be welcomed by Carroll House as one of their own immediately. If you choose Carroll, that is." The boy suddenly seemed to realise how what he had said could be taken as pre-emptive as potential students chose their own House at Dalton, "I'm sorry, that was terribly rude. I just assumed but Kurt can always choose Andersen or Perrault if he wishes. Though, I would advise against Grimm, the boys there are known for being cruel." He turned and threw an, ironically, grim smile in Kurt's father's direction as he approached the grand double doors.  
A smile began to adorn Kurt's face as he watched him in his element, displaying Carroll in all of its glory, "If Carroll is your house then you assumed correctly." Kurt's cheeks flushed when he turned to smile at him, causing his breath to catch in his throat as the other boy sent a wink in his direction.

Kurt's father cleared his throat awkwardly, taking his shoulder and pulling him closer to him, "I know you're friends with this boy, Kurt, but don't just automatically count out the other Houses."

"Your father is absolutely right, Kurt. However, also don't count out Carroll." Watching in anticipation, Kurt could hardly contain his excitement as the boy with the golden eyes swung the large doors open in one push, "Without further ado, welcome to the best House in Dalton!"

Immediately, the sight of a bustling entrance hall bombarded them, boys in Dalton uniforms were walking every which way. They carried instruments, sheet music, paintings, folders and even what looked like possibly explosive science experiments. A grand staircase led up to a mezzanine level, protected by decorative wrought iron fencing, with small, obsidian leaves tangled in the vines of metal and occasional flowers dotted here and there.

"Blaine!" A boy with such light blond hair it may as well have been white came running up to the one who'd been leading the Hummel's around the school, panting heavily with watercolour paint smeared delicately on his cheeks and traces of oil pastels on his fingers.

Smiling, Blaine cleared his throat awkwardly as he gestured for the other to wait, "Excuse me, for a moment." Turning to the other boy, he frowned slightly as he took him aside and kept his voice low though the conversation was still audible, "Theodore, you know I'm busy showing the Hummels around today."

Theodore's wide eyes darted around the entrance rapidly, seemingly panicked, "Yes, but Blaine, it's important. It's Dante and Luca, they're-"

"Theodore, not now. Tell Wesley or David. Charles, if you must drag the Andersen Prefect into this but not me, not today." Shaking his head, Blaine pushed the blond back towards the stairs, where he had come from, "In fact, I told those two to be on their best behaviour for the prospective student so if you can stop them from doing whatever it is on your own, that would be great."

Eyebrows furrowing in worry, Theodore seemed to swallow but quickly scurried away to find anyone else to talk to about whatever 'Dante' and 'Luca' had done. As if an afterthought, Blaine quickly whistled to get his attention, "Oh, and Teddy! Wash your hands before you touch anything!"

Pausing on the stairs, Theodore gave a small salute to say he understood and continued upwards.

Burt Hummel watched the boy as he ascended the stairs, confusion coating his features, "You can go if it's important, Blaine. I'm sure we can wait."

Blaine turned the corners of his lips up slowly as he watched Theodore until he disappeared, "No, no. Carroll is, well, most of these boys are used to a more privileged lifestyle. They're not very independent. I'm sure Kurt won't have that trouble though if he does, I am the prefect so he can always come straight to me. Lord knows, that's what everyone else in this house does." A small laugh escaped his lips as he kept watch, one eye on the boys, one on Kurt.

"Doesn't that get tiring?" Adjusting his cap, Burt glanced around with worried eyes. It was obvious he didn't quite approve of the bustling nature of Carroll House.

Quickly turning towards Kurt's father, Blaine only laughed again and allowed a wide grin to spread across his features, "Oh, no! I love Carroll and I love these boys with everything. They may be rowdy and obnoxious sometimes but when you live with them they become your family." Glancing down, Blaine appeared to realise just how generic that sounded and fought to continue the statement, "Also, Carroll is the main Warbler house. There's always someone singing somewhere and we tend to join in. We're an a cappella group after all." He looked up at this point, his eyes meeting Kurt's in a silent promise that there would never be a dull moment in Carroll House.

A small, wounded noise leapt from Kurt's lips as Blaine spoke of the songs that were practically on a constant loop in the house, "Father, let me live here." At that, Blaine chuckled softly and rested his hand delicately on the taller boy's shoulder before giving a gentle push, as if to play it off as a friendly motion. Kurt's heart had fluttered a little in his chest as Blaine's hand had brushed the back of his arm on its descent afterwards.

Kurt's father smiled, watching him interact with another boy his age for once and noticing how well he seemed to get along with him, "It does sound good for you, but I still say not to count out the other Houses. Would you not prefer to be placed somewhere less 'rowdy'?"

Raising an eyebrow, Kurt watched his father's face as he tried to work out whether he was joking or not, "Dad, do you even know me?"

Blaine cleared his throat delicately, smiling towards Kurt as he caught Burt's attention, "Mr Hummel, I'm terribly sorry to cut in but Kurt and I have quite a tight schedule to cover everything today. Dalton has a very wide range of facilities." Kurt had already applied and been accepted into Dalton on a full scholarship because of his talents in French and his vocal range for the Warblers. The induction day was merely a formality, to show him around the school and to show him around the Houses after showing an interest in boarding. When he'd applied, boarding had been completely out of the question though recently, after having thought it through, Kurt had realised the commute would be unjustifiable. He may as well stay at Dalton with his friends rather than spending four hours travelling every day to just get home, study and sleep.

Nodding, his dad smiled at Blaine before turning to look at Kurt, "I'll be waiting at the fountain at 11:30 for our meeting with the Dean, Kurt. Good to finally meet you, Blaine, take care of my son."

Blaine allowed another smile to dance across his features before nodding briefly, "Oh, of course, Mr Hummel!" He glanced to Kurt once again and winked charmingly, throwing a wave to his father as he turned back at the Carroll doors.

Saying goodbye quickly, Blaine and Kurt watched him leave before turning towards each other with elated smiles.

"Well, Kurt, you're at Dalton!" Blaine grinned ecstatically and this caused Kurt to laugh, throwing his arms around him in celebration as they hugged in the entrance hall, "Where would you like to start? The dorms or the common room?"

Kurt suddenly became rather shy as he stepped backwards, realising what he was doing, "I really don't mind." His head remained pointed downwards though his gaze travelled quickly upwards, through his lashes until it met Blaine's. His golden eyes were warm and inviting, encouraging Kurt to look up at him properly again.

Grinning once more, Blaine took Kurt's hand and began to lead him up the grand staircase, towards the three floors of dorm rooms, "Then the dorms it is." He chuckled gently, watching the taller boy's face as his cheeks flushed when he took Kurt's hand, just as they had done on that first day. The day Kurt had learned that the Warblers were like rock stars and that Dalton was possibly the safest school in America for someone like him.

They took to the stairs together, Kurt's hand trailing over the banister distractedly as he admired the beauty of Carroll House. "Now, tell me, how did you wrangle being the one showing me around? I expected that to be a teacher." His smile lingered on his face for far longer than deemed 'normal' but he really didn't care. 

In that moment, Kurt had been immensely happy and it had been a terribly long time since that had happened.

Blaine laughed, turning back to him and allowing him to see that his lips remained turned upwards at the corners, "I didn't wrangle anything. Normally it is a teacher, unless you express an interest in boarding, then you get the Prefect from your top choice of House. You expressed an interest in Carroll on your application and so, it is the Carroll Prefect showing you around."

Tilting his head in confusion, Kurt tried to remember filling the application form in as his words had puzzled him, "I didn't show an interest in any House. I wasn't thinking of boarding at that time." 

Looking down, Blaine began to mumble something along the lines of, "I may have adjusted that." though Kurt decided to say nothing of it. In fact, he was flattered that Blaine had wanted to be the one to show him around so badly that he'd committed forgery.

Once on the landing, another boy approached them, though this one had dirty blond hair, styled into a messy fringe and tanned skin. He skidded to halt a metre or so away, panting slightly. When the boy eventually came to speak, a very weak Italian accent could be heard in his voice, though it did not cover the alarmed nature of his seemingly rather cryptic sentence leaving Kurt baffled, "Rabbit! Where were you?"

There was a loud bang somewhere else in the house, causing Kurt and Blaine to spin around only to see nothing though by the time they had turned once more, the boy was completely gone. Kurt couldn't understand it; the only exits from the hallway other than the stairs (which they had been looking at) were the doors to the dorm rooms, which would surely be locked.

"Coniglio! Where have you been? Let's go, the Dormouse needs help!" Without warning, the same boy suddenly poked his head out from behind a door about twenty metres down the hall.

This startled Kurt as he took a step backwards or two, looking on in trepidation, "Wait, what?" The words had escaped before he'd even thought of them, they were only mumbled and under his breath yet Blaine managed to pick up on it and shook his head as if to say, 'not now'.

Blaine simply sighed, taking his hand once again and leading him to the door as the blond-haired boy stepped out, "What did you do now?"

Gulping dramatically, the blond tugged at his collar awkwardly as he mumbled the answer to Blaine's question, "Uhm, Dinah isn't here today so we decided it would be fun to do- uhh, tiro con l'arco? Sì, from the window-"

"Why, Dante?" Blaine let out an exasperated sigh as he threw his hands in the air and held his fingers to the bridge of his nose.

This seemed to flatten Dante's story as he paused, thinking for a moment before eventually starting his argument, "Uh . . . Il treno non passa due volte? " He shrugged sheepishly as Blaine rolled his eyes at the boy's words though he seemed to understand them. Dante shuffled from foot to foot in the doorway, as Blaine regained his composure, and cleared his throat occasionally; looking anywhere but the Prefect's face, it was obvious he was uncomfortable.

"I should have known that was coming. Continue." The golden-eyed boy was practically on the verge of snapping as he glanced awkwardly at his watch, knowing that they had to be going soon if they were to see the other three Houses. After ticking the extra boxes on Kurt's application and forging his signature, it was evident that he wanted to be a good tour guide.

Dante quickly cleared his throat and ran a hand through his messy fringe. It was the kind of messy that took at least an hour to perfect in the mirror and he certainly wasn't fooling Kurt though at this point, it really was starting to look natural as he practically unravelled before the pair, "Anyway, the Dormouse tried to stop us but we wouldn't listen because . . . It's us. So then he tried to find something lanuginoso in Dinah's cupboard for us to shoot instead, he thought they'd notice if we keep hitting the tree and the door closed behind him!"

The silence from Blaine was enough to remind the blond boy that what he had done was terribly wrong, "You're kidding. Dante, tell me you're kidding?" 

"Go, Rabbit! Go!" The blond ushered them inside, demanding that he follow though when they entered, his face greeted them again. He was suddenly standing by a closet door, fiddling with the handle though looked up when the three boys walked in.

"There you are, Rabbit!"

Stopping dead and swivelling on his heels, Kurt turned to see that the boy was also still behind them, "'How?" Once again, the comment was under his breath, this one not even finished yet, again, it caught Blaine's attention.

The boy from the hallway grinned happily and offered a hand for him to shake, "Ciao, Alice!  It's nice to meet you." However, he pronounced the random name as if Italian with Ah-lee-chay.

Blaine smiled weakly as he strode towards the closet, "Kurt, meet the Franco twins, Dante and Luca. They are identical, not teleporters. Also Italian so I hope you pick up languages easily." He paused at the door before trying the handle for himself and checking the hinges.

"Or are we?" The twin that Blaine had just pushed away from the door smirked before he came closer, beginning to look Kurt over as he examined his clothing choices and the way he'd styled his hair. Immediately swatting his hand away as he began to try to run his hand through his quiff and straighten the already immaculate tie hanging around his neck, Kurt glared as he mumbled something along the lines of, "Sì, Coniglio, we certainly approve."

Shooting a glare in the direction of the three of them, Blaine gestured specifically at the boy still attempting to find a flaw in Kurt's appearance, "Shut up, you managed to get Teddy locked in a closet on today of all days, I am not in the mood. What did I tell you about your behaviour today?" 

Both boys responded, their tones identical as they stood beside each other with their heads angled downwards and their hands clasped in front of them, "That we shouldn't do anything stupid because you're showing Alice around today and you really want him to join Carroll." The words were immaculate. Blaine had obviously drilled them into them as their English, although good, was not perfect. They seemed resigned to their fates as they didn't make an effort to speak again and averted their eyes whenever Kurt tried to catch their attention to ask how they'd even managed to do such a thing.

Cheeks flushing slightly, Blaine rolled his eyes and began to knock almost tentatively on the door to the closet, "Teddy? You still in there?"

"Blaine? Oh my god, Blaine! I'm so scared, it's dark!" The reply was immediate as Blaine ran his hands down the edges of the door, trying to find the problem, "Though, Blaine, I know you're the prefect and we're meant to respect you and all but where the hell would I have gone?"

This caused a quiet laugh to leave Blaine's lips as he paused for a moment, really thinking about what he had said, "I don't know, Teddy. I don't know." 

A long pause followed as Blaine continued to search the frame, glaring at the twins occasionally when he couldn't find a fault that could be easily fixed. Eventually, Teddy's weak voice sounded though it was quieter this time, more muffled by the door, "Get me out, please, Blaine." 

One of the twins, Kurt thought it could be Luca, seemed to remember he had vocal chords as he started snickering and elbowed his brother suggestively, "It's okay, Ghiro!  Rabbit's an expert at coming out of the closets!" After this, both twins exploded fits of giggles as Luca pushed at the other, still reeling from what he'd just said.

"Shut it, you two!" Blaine really didn't seem to find this funny, or at least, not in that moment though the traces of a fond smirk began to form on his cheeks. "Kurt, do you mind if we skip one of the houses on our tour? I'm afraid Teddy needs me." 

It shocked Kurt that Blaine had felt the need to even ask and he scurried forwards to be at his side, "No, of course! That's absolutely fine; don't be ridiculous! In fact, I might be able to help."

"Really?" Blaine looked at him anxiously, trying to be subtle though it was obvious that he was eyeing Kurt's small frame and lanky body. Though Kurt didn't offer muscle, he offered a voice of reason and so, as he stepped closer to the door, he began to rap delicately on it with his knuckles to alert Teddy that he was on the other side.

Kurt glanced over the door quickly though when deciding that Blaine was right, he wouldn't be strong enough, he decided to start talking, "Hey, Teddy, is it? I'm Kurt."

It took a little while though he soon got a reply from the panicked boy, "Kurt? Oh, right! Alice."

Looking to Blaine in confusion, Kurt shrugged and just decided to continue although he had absolutely no idea what 'Alice' meant or why everyone was calling him that, "Right, well, there's nothing wedged in the door so it must just be stuck in the frame." 

One of the twins started talking helpfully and Kurt quickly looked to Blaine as he mouthed 'Dante', it would take quite a while for him to learn how to tell these identical boys apart, "Dinah doesn't close his closet because the door sticks after that one time we stuffed it too full with platform boots and steampunk top hats." 

Choosing not to acknowledge that as he started to realise the extent of the trouble that Blaine had been saying Carroll boys could get into, Kurt rolled his eyes and continued, "Right, well, I'm pretty certain that I'm not strong enough but it should just need a bit of force." 

The other twin piped up this time, meaning that it was Luca unless they had switched whilst Kurt wasn't looking which he wouldn't have put past them, "The Rabbit's a boxer!"  
Blaine nodded, stepping forwards and leading Kurt to the side of the door by his arm, "Kurt, mind out." He rubbed his hands together for a moment before placing one on the doorknob and the other on the wooden panel, "Teddy! I'm going to pull; you might have to push it from the other side." 

A muffled, "Right, okay!" sounded from behind the door as Blaine began bracing himself before eventually tugging on the handle.

There was a tense moment in which the door wouldn't budge, in which Blaine paused in defeat. He glanced towards Kurt worriedly though continued when he nodded encouragingly; after that, it came flying backwards, causing the ice-blond boy from before to tumble through and into Kurt's arms.

The twins exclaimed in delight immediately, running forwards and sweeping Teddy into their arms without hesitation, "Ghiro!" They spoke as one, as if there was only one mind controlling the two bodies and although Kurt had often wondered what it would be like to have a twin, they did start to scare him in that moment, "We're so sorry!" One identical twin ended up on each side of Teddy as he was crushed between them in an apologetic hug. Kurt had to admit that he was glad to see that they weren't heartless, they had obviously been terribly worried about the boy they'd locked in the closet by accident.

"What's going on in here?" Two other boys entered the room in this moment, pausing and looking around at the commotion, "Blaine, I thought you were showing the new kid around?" 

Blaine managed to explain to Kurt that the two boys were Wes and David before the twins quickly ditched Teddy, throwing him back into Kurt's arms. Glancing to each other in worry, they ran to Blaine without missing a beat. Hissing under their breath, they begged him to remain silent as they tried and failed to hide behind the shorter boy, "Rabbit, don't tell Hatter and Hare we locked their Dormouse in closet. . . Please." Kurt had picked up a difference. Whilst Luca had simply said, 'Dormouse in closet', it was obvious that Dante was better at English as he included, 'the'.

However, at this, the confusion began to swell behind Kurt's eyes until he felt blinded by it and had the need to speak up, "I'm sorry, why are they calling you a rabbit?"

As soon as he mentioned a rabbit, the twins bounded towards Kurt and bowed in unison, grinning as they offered him a hand each. Kurt worried that this would be some form of test and so decided to just shake both of them at once as they smirked in satisfaction, "We're the Tweedles!"

Blaine rolled his eyes as he took Kurt's elbow and led him away from them slightly; it was obvious that he didn't particularly trust the twins not to scare him away though at that point, he definitely shouldn't have been worried, "Dalton's houses are named after famous fairy tale writers so they like to name people accordingly. For example, the Prefect from Andersen is the Tin Soldier, Perrault is Prince Phillip and Grimm is Lucifer."

"Lucifer?" Kurt's blue eyes flashed in concern as he glanced between Blaine and the twins, trying to recall a fairy tale character called Lucifer.

A soft smile appeared on his face as Blaine slid his hand down Kurt's forearm and into the other boy's, "The cat from Cinderella, apparently." He watched Kurt's face, almost laughing as he saw the cogs turning in his brain to remember all of the fairy tales from when he was little.

"Not as nice as our Dinah!" Blaine mouthed, 'Luca,' helpfully as one of the twins started talking, shaking his head towards Kurt to say it probably didn't actually matter what he was saying.

Piping up quickly, Dante bounded towards him with a sense of childish delight as he allowed high-pitched giggles to escape his lips, "Yes! You had better get along with Dinah, Alice!  It would be awkward if you didn't get on with your own cat." He then paused in thought and turned to his brother, who was already nodding sombrely, "Wouldn't Prince Phillip make a bello Cheshire Cat?" It appeared that although Dante used Italian for the odd word to embellish a point, he spoke English fluently.

"Such a shame he's at Perrault." Luca had begun nodding as soon as Dante had started, as if he had known what he was going to say. After looking to the other boys in the room, Kurt noticed that they were all rolling their eyes and grumbling about how often they pointed this fact out.

This didn't seem to bother the twins as Dante continued obliviously, "A waste. We should have insisted he join Carroll with us. Ridicolo  Perrault legacy." 

Blaine sighed and cut in before they could go on further, "Where is Elliott anyway?" 

"I think he has a thing with his agent." It was the smaller boy who spoke up this time, removing his blazer and replacing it with another which was identical, only less creased. Teddy looked over to Kurt and smiled when their eyes met, nodding in greeting and allowing a grin to spread across his face when he reciprocated without missing a beat.

Wes began snickering as he elbowed David, who remained stood beside him at the door, "Starchild is in high demand, after all." Every boy in the room snorted softly as they looked away from each other, trying to compose themselves immediately.

"Starchild?" For some reason, that name rang a bell to Kurt yet he couldn't quite place it. He tried desperately to think, as it really did seem like a prominent memory though he couldn't put his finger on where he'd heard it.

Having been the first to sober up after his fit of laughter, David nodded as he explained and hit his friend over the back of the head lightly, "Elliott's so very close to being a famous singer and he says the name 'really means something to him'." Shrugging to show his cluelessness as to what it could possibly be, Kurt allowed him to leave it that. After all, if he was almost famous then that was probably where he had heard the name before. Kurt prided himself in keeping up with up-and-coming talent.

Quickly collecting himself, Blaine nodded and began speaking, though small giggles occasionally broke his sentences, "Well, Kurt, these are the dorms. Or, this is Elliott's dorm, though they're all pretty similar." 

Kurt glanced around to find a double bed on the right-hand wall with shelving above and a table beside it. There was room on the other side which he assumed was for a second bed if the occupants were sharing, though this 'Elliott' seemed to have replaced the empty piece of floor with a music area. Guitars and a small electric piano stood propped against the wall with an abundance of sheet music scattered on the floor and pinned to the walls. A small seating area could be found closer to the door with a sofa and two beanbags surrounding a modest coffee table. There was the closet for towels and such which Teddy had been trapped in and two walk in wardrobes, one for each possible occupant though it appeared that Elliott was currently using both. Finally, Kurt noticed the doors on either side of the room, which he assumed, led to bathrooms.

Blaine spoke up after a small time of allowing him to examine the living arrangements, "Every dorm is connected by bathrooms in between which you can access from the dorms on either side so remember to lock the doors to your room if you're going out. Otherwise you get people like the Tweedles just passing through and stopping to do archery from your window." This prompted laughter from the boys as the twins hid their faces from view awkwardly, "Shall we get to the common room?" 

Nodding silently, Kurt's mouth still hung open slightly in shock. He hadn't been expecting such lavish living arrangements and he was quickly reminded of Dalton's regular clientele. He was also reminded that every other boy in the room probably fit into the 'regular clientele' bracket rather easily and Kurt's father owned part of a garage.

Waving their goodbyes quickly, Teddy and David nodded politely as Kurt and Blaine walked past them though the twins were another story, "See you soon, Alice!  Take good care of him, Rabbit!" They spoke in chorus once again though this time, Kurt was able to see the subtle differences as they waved. Dante bounced up onto his toes slightly in his enthusiasm with a wide grin spread across his face, allowing the ends of his words to occasionally lilt into excited giggles whilst Luca remained rather smug, smirking gently.

Wes stopped them quickly on the way out by jumping in front of the boys, "Do you want me to come so I can veer any possible distractions in another direction?" A smile was evident on his face as he glanced between Blaine and Kurt, trying to be subtle though failing miserably.

Laughing as he let out a long sigh, Blaine nodded and took Kurt's hand once again as they exited the room "I would appreciate that greatly, thank you, Wes."

They walked back down the extravagant staircase in a comfortable silence, Kurt's hand in Blaine's warm grip as he stared down at the bustling entrance hall in fascination. It couldn't be the same in every other House, could it?

Stopping outside the common room doors, Blaine motioned for Kurt and Wes to remain quiet as he pushed the doors open and stepped in slightly. Two boys sat at a piano, one quite obviously bleached blond and the other with black hair and bright eyes. The blond seemed to be struggling with the notes and grumbling softly about how it should be easy whilst the other simply rolled his eyes and tried to show him by placing his hands over the other's. Kurt could hardly stop himself from smiling as the blond began to blush furiously and shrugged his friend's hands off immediately.

"Jeff, I can't just teach you piano in one day. Especially if you won't let me help." The raven-haired boy sighed in frustration and stood up from the piano stool to find more pages of sheet music from his bag.

The blond, who'd been labelled Jeff, simply took his hands off the keys and leaned back so far that Kurt was surprised he hadn't tipped the stool, "Blaine could do it." In the end, the boy rested his hands on the floor so that he was doing the 'crab' over the stool and looked up at his friend from where his hair almost brushed the floor. Kurt glanced to Blaine in alarm though he only mouthed something about the boy being a dancer.

Sighing again, the boy with the dark hair looked up and couldn't help snorting as he saw Jeff and smiled fondly, "Ask him, then." 

Jeff smirked as he saw that he had made the other boy laugh and sat back upright, scooting over and tapping the place beside him again as his friend made his way over. He started to whine about how he wanted to learn from his best friend as he watched the boy sit down, leaning into him and touching his nose to his cheek jokingly. The dark-haired boy couldn't see but Jeff's eyes closed and his brows furrowed in frustration as he pulled away before being so close to him could cause him to do something he'd regret, ". . . and he's busy showing that boy he likes around anyway-"

Before Jeff could say anything else, Blaine cleared his throat awkwardly from the doorway and gave a little wave when they swung around to face him.

Face lighting up at the sight, Jeff grinned and leapt into a standing position immediately, "Blaine! You're back! How did it go with-" Though he stopped when Blaine stepped further into the room and pulled Kurt out from behind the door so that he was in their line of sight. Jeff, having frozen mid-sentence, started nodding as he sat back down, "Oh, never mind. Nick's just teaching me piano but could you help later, maybe?" 

Blaine smiled at the pair and laughed slightly, "Of course I'll help, Jeff. This is Kurt, please be nice. I want him to join Carroll." He grinned as Jeff nodded politely and watched as they began speaking.

Once they had left the common room, Blaine stopped to explain what had just happened, "That's Jeff; I have that blond well-trained at least though he's about the only one. The other is an Andersen boy but those two are joined at the hip so we let him in. Normally, we don't let people from other Houses just walk around but we trust Nick." He smiled as he glanced back at them through the open doors and watched Jeff flushing whenever Nick came close, "Jeff's also pretty taken by him."

Wes had left them to do homework and so, they were strolling through the halls of Carroll House before leaving for Perrault when they were stopped by a woman holding a kind face and a clipboard of sheet music, "Are you boys alright? I'd have thought you'd be at Perrault by now?"

Turning quickly on his heel, Blaine came face to face with the young teacher and let his charming smile slide onto his face, "Quite, Miss Carmine. I'm afraid there was some trouble with the twins and Theodore but we sorted it and, for now, everything is fine." He chuckled softly and Kurt watched in amazement as she did the same. At McKinley, relationships with teachers were generally quite bad which was why his own relationship with Mr Schue had often surprised him. This appeared to be a regular thing at Dalton.

"Kurt, is it?" The soft-spoken woman offered her hand for him to shake with a delicate smile, her auburn hair tucked into a perfectly braided ponytail, "I'm Miss Carmine, the Head of Carroll House and the pianist and vocal coach for the Warblers. I hope to see you around Carroll soon, Mr Hummel. You appear to be a prime candidate."

Kurt shook her hand with as much dignity as he could muster whilst his brain clicked into motion. Anna Carmine had been the pianist and coach for Vocal Adrenaline for many years. This woman was legendary and here he was, stood before her, "I was hoping to join the Warblers once I transferred." 

"You sing?" Miss Carmine tilted her head curiously, looking over him in quiet contemplation.

Beginning to doubt himself in the presence of such a great coach, Kurt gulped nervously and began to nod, regretting ever mentioning it, "I do." 

"Right, well, before she can get you singing . . . Miss Carmine's right, Kurt, we should be long gone by now. I was planning Perrault first, then Andersen, unless there's some problem with that? We'll be meeting with the Prefects at the door but I'll stay with you at all times." Blaine looked to Kurt with innocent eyes after throwing another charming smile towards his choir teacher that practically made Kurt melt where he stood.

Nodding tentatively, Kurt allowed a delicate smile to flutter onto his scarlet cheeks, "Of course. It was lovely meeting you, Miss Carmine; I hope to see more of you once I've transferred."

A trill laugh launched into the hall as he offered his hand for the choir teacher to shake once again and she accepted gratefully, "Well, Mr Hummel, it seems you'll be fitting right in with the Dalton boys." She finally let go of Kurt's hand and began to take her sophisticated steps towards the common room where she would be helping Jeff the dancer and Nick the Andersen.

"I have a feeling you're going to get on well with Miss Carmine. She's very driven and incredibly talented, much like you, I suppose?" Blaine's suave comment made another blush coat Kurt's cheeks as they trotted down the steps from Carroll and towards the central fountain, where they would be able to take another path leading them to Perrault. The Houses were positioned in a square, around a fountain and a large, decorative garden.

His smile never once left as Kurt gazed across the field of flowers in varying colours, different blossoms scattered amongst each other, "You've never heard me sing, Mr Anderson. I wouldn't be saying anything yet."

Blaine rolled his eyes fondly as he wrapped his hand around Kurt's own instinctively, "No, but I know you, Mr Hummel. Someone so refined surely must be wonderful without even trying."

 

They approached the Perrault building, their hands still intertwined as Kurt glanced in awe at the exterior. Although it was identical to Carroll and the other Houses, whoever acted as groundskeeper for Perrault had allowed ivy to grow partially up the walls and around the windows elegantly, thin vines wrapping around the metal accents.

"Blaine!" A tall boy with long legs and a wide grin trotted down the steps, waving to catch the boys' attention and coming to a graceful halt before them, "What kept you?"

Running his eyes over the boy's pale skin, Blaine offered a thin-lipped smile and nodded briefly in greeting, "Sebastian," He paused, as if considering whether he should continue, "A small hold-up with the Franco twins, nothing new."

Sebastian nodded, as if understanding, seemingly oblivious to Blaine's cold air around him, "Well, is this the probable new Carroll? I know I don't stand a chance if you're already friends." He allowed a charming laugh to escape his lips as he ran a long-fingered hand over his manicured quiff. Grinning as Kurt smiled towards him, Sebastian completely ignored Blaine's hostility as he cleared his throat and continued, gesturing towards the building behind him, "Right, well. Welcome to Perrault! We are quite different from Carroll. We are a lot quieter. The Perrault boys tend to be peacekeepers between Grimm and Carroll, or Grimm and anyone. We tend to do well in studies as well, because we have a nice, quiet living area." 

As Sebastian pushed the doors open, he took note of Kurt's shocked expression with a smile, "Quite a contrast to Carroll, isn't it?" It certainly was. They were led through the practically empty entrance hall, with only a couple of boys crossing, "It's calm here, a relaxed environment. You're less likely to be randomly pelted with Nerf guns." Giving Blaine a pointed, knowing look, Sebastian smiled towards the new boy as he continued the brief tour.

He had to admit, if Kurt wasn't already sold on Carroll purely because it came with Blaine, he would probably prefer Perrault.

 

Then, to Andersen.

They crossed the gardens once again, finding that it was the boys' break as there were plenty walking across the grassy space with them this time, watching curiously as they caught glimpses of the new student with the Carroll Prefect.

Blaine seemed to have perked up ever since they had left the presence of the dignified Perrault Prefect who was the twins' Prince Phillip. He jumped ahead slightly, marvelling in the morning sunshine as it glinted from his golden eyes and he grinned impressively, "I have a soft spot for the Andersen boys . . . Probably because it's my surname but, oh well. They're also very sweet, you'll love Charlie."

Once again, a boy greeted them on the steps. He had been sat down, sketching something furiously into his notebook though he'd jumped up upon seeing them, tucking the sketchbook under his arm and his pencil behind his ear haphazardly, "Blaine, Kurt!" He ran an anxious hand through his dyed white locks, tutting to himself as he remembered his fingers were covered with lead and charcoal.

Greeting the boy, Kurt could see that he was quite shy and could probably only handle being Prefect because his boys appeared more independent than Carroll's did, "Here at Andersen, most of us are very artistic. That is completely by accident, we got a few good artists one year and others started joining. However, that doesn't mean you have to be artsy to join Andersen and likewise, if you are, don't feel inclined to just because of that." He offered a toothy grin to Blaine as the three boys ascended the steps, "I know we fought tooth and nail for Teddy but he ended up with you, didn't he, Blaine?"

Blaine responded with a proud nod as he leaned towards Kurt, whispering into his ear, "It's because Carroll's better."

"I heard that. It's more the fact that he's a Carroll legacy but whatever, I'm not bitter." Charlie smiled fondly at the Andersen boys they passed on the way through the halls of the House, "Now, you may have noticed that the grades in this house aren't the best of Dalton's. Don't get me wrong, they're not bad; they just don't match Grimm, for instance. This is purely because with a house of so many artists, we all get caught up painting and forget to study. It's just a fact here at Andersen. I'm no better and I'm still the Prefect so that just shows how used to it the teachers are." Chuckling gently, he gestured towards some of the paintings on the walls that the housemates had done. They truly were wonderful. "Those that do remember to study do very well, however, because we're so quiet. Painting, drawing and photography are all relatively quiet hobbies."

Saying goodbye to Charlie, Kurt found a small collection of the Andersen boys peeking out of their windows curiously, watching the new student with inquisitive expressions. 

On the walk back to the fountain, where they'd arranged to meet Kurt's father at the designated time for his meeting with the Dean about boarding, Blaine asked how Kurt felt about the Houses and where he thought he'd end up, "Well, that Sebastian boy was lovely and if it weren't for you, I'd probably choose that House without waiting. I wouldn't dare brave Carroll alone. However, I want to be with my friend and honestly, a busy Warbler environment sounds just as inviting."

This caused a warm smile to light Blaine's cheeks as he nudged Kurt's shoulder with his childishly, his golden eyes sparkling in the autumn sunlight, "Good, because Houses usually aren't too fond of their members being friends with other Houses and I don't know what I'd do without you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Word count: 7015
> 
> The first chapter! I'm actually really proud of this one and I hope you all love it just as much as I do.  
> I gave myself feels writing Niff.
> 
> Thoughts?
> 
> ~ Rowan


	2. Protecting the Tin Soldier

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I made an executive decision and now Kurt and Blaine are in the same year at school but Kurt's a couple of months younger. I know, it's not canon but I think it makes sense.

Dean Colet's eyes remained fixed on the papers in front of him as he read over the forms we had given him. I could see that he was impressed with my skills in French, which were the only reason I had been able to get a full scholarship to Dalton, besides my vocal range. They only wanted me to tutor a couple of boys a few times a week in return, which was really nothing I couldn't handle and we had jumped at the chance.

After a few awkward minutes of waiting for him to bring himself up to date with our situation, my father cleared his throat and the Dean offered a quick smile before placing the paperwork slightly to the side of his desk, "How can I help you, Mr Hummel? Kurt, here, has already been accepted into Dalton Academy for outstanding academic excellence in Modern Foreign Languages and the wonderful addition he will make to our prestigious show choir, I don't quite understand the problem." 

My dad smiled almost grimly as he nodded, "Yes, well, Kurt still isn't sure that boarding is right for him." He reached up to remove his hat self-consciously and I could see that he was silently cursing himself for not doing it sooner, "Do you think travelling to and from school every day would be a bad thing?"

Taking a moment, the Dean nodded his head as if this was a frequent problem, "Well, Kurt is obviously a very talented student who has evidently been through some things that he is not willing to discuss and that is absolutely fine." It was obvious that Dean Colet was familiar with situations such as mine as he continued, "We admittedly don't get a lot of boys from your background at Dalton but when we do, they tend to be running from something. Whilst this shows that Kurt is probably used to dealing with a certain amount of stress, it will gradually take a toll on his wellbeing. Especially when you live an hour away in Lima." Glancing to me as if deciding whether he should talk through it or not, Dean Colet seemed to deem it acceptable, "He will become tired on evenings and this will stop him from seeing friends. Eventually, it will begin affecting homework and schoolwork. It just wouldn't be practical or fair for Kurt."

"I see." Looking to my father, I could see that the Dean's words worried him, as he feared for my mental health. He knew how bad things had been at McKinley. The only reason we were at Dalton was because the constant taunts had been driving me into the ground. Did he really want to put the added pressure of travelling on me?

Seeing the conflicted look crossing my dad's face, Dean Colet offered a reassuring smile, "I assure you, Mr Hummel, our boys will welcome Kurt with open arms here. I have already heard from the Carroll boys themselves how excited they are for the new student. It was the Franco twins, however, and I do not normally listen to anything they say but I also spoke with Miss Carmine who cannot wait to hear you sing. Our Warblers, although wonderful as they are, are in desperate need of a countertenor."

 

My hands fiddled together in my lap as I listened to them considering travelling options for another half an hour so, not really interrupting because I knew that in the end, my father would have his say. It was on Dean Colet to convince him, I would never have a chance.

". . . in the end, it comes down to Kurt to make the decision, as it is a very important one for his performance in academics. What do you think, Kurt?"

Snapping my head upwards, I saw both my father and Dean Colet staring at me for an answer. A curious smile sat with the Dean and an anxious expression on my father's face. He could tell that I had been drifting off again, which was something I only really did when things got too much.

Attempting to form a coherent answer in my head, all I managed to croak out was a shaky, "Blaine. I want to stay with Blaine in Carroll."

"Ah, yes, Mr Anderson. How was he as a tour guide? He must have made quite the impression for you to already have decided on a House." The Dean's eyebrows raised ever so slightly as he immediately recognised who I meant by 'Blaine'. It was obvious that the dark-haired Warbler had made quite an impression on him.

My father only shook his head, disappointed that even after seeing the other Houses, I still had my heart set on Carroll, "Blaine's Kurt's friend, they've known each other for a few weeks. I'm trying to tell him to choose a House that would suit him, not just because Blaine's there."

Dean Colet nodded as my dad spoke; taking in what he was saying though also looking to me to see how I reacted to the statements. He watched cautiously as I stiffened slightly at my dad's words, seeing how I seemed to disagree with them though didn't wish to speak up about it, "Well, our students often keep their social group within their own House. If not, they tend to transfer to be with their friends. They do better in a House with people they get along with, it makes for a much more enjoyable experience at Dalton."

"So you're saying that Kurt should join Carroll? If he were to board, that is." My dad seemed ruffled by the Dean's comments, not sure that he agreed with them as he tried to decide what was best for me. I knew that I certainly wanted to stay with friends at Dalton, it would make the transition into boarding school much easier if I got on with the boys in my hall.

Smiling warmly, Dean Colet looked to me with a reassuring nod before turning back to my father, "I'm saying that if Kurt already has friends there then it is probably the best option, Mr Hummel. In addition, we have already established that Kurt's vocal range is one of the reasons we accepted his application so willingly. Carroll House is the main one for Warblers and the Head, Miss Carmine is their coach. If Kurt is going to be spending a lot of time with the Warblers anyway then it would make sense for him to live with most of them as well."

 

Jeff's POV

Bounding towards Nick clumsily, I almost tripped over my own feet as the blond fringe hanging in front of my eyes impaired my vision. However, instead of hitting the ground, I managed to catch my footing and pop upright just before slamming into my friend, "Uhm. Sorry."

Nick merely laughed it off, clapping me on the shoulder as we walked away from his American Literature class together. When you're the son of a successful writer, you spend most of your life in classes about writing. Or, this was what Nick said as he complained his way to the dining hall; stating how sick he was of reading, how sick he was of writing and how sick he was of being expected to take it up as a career. It didn't matter how wonderful at it Nick was, he didn't want to do it and he was adamant not to.

Then again, Nick was wonderful at many things he wouldn't want to take up as a career. He was wonderful at singing but he always said that he didn't want to do that forever. He was wonderful at the piano but he didn't want to be a concert pianist.

Nick was a wonderful person.

After collecting our food, we dropped the trays onto our usual table. Dante and Luca called it the table for 'fairytale folk'. If you were lucky (lucky being a relative term), they would nickname you a character from a fairytale according to the name of your House. So long as they didn't deem you a villain, they allowed you to sit at the table that they had apparently scared everyone away from in the first week of freshman year. 

I had learnt all of this from Nick as I had transferred to Dalton as a sophomore. Don't get me wrong, my family were just as rich as everyone else's was, I had only gone to a different private school with a very loosely enforced anti-bullying policy. Homophobia flourishes in most high schools.

It was to be a quiet lunch as Blaine had already left to show the new kid around and Teddy was off working on concepts for his latest art project. Although he had enlisted the twins for the job, he didn't need them until he knew what he was doing so they had followed Blaine. Wes and David were meant to be joining us but deciding on extra-credit over food wasn't a rare occurrence for them (this completely baffled me, the food at Dalton was far better than any personal chef that the Sterlings had had over the years). Elliott was away on some form of business meeting for his music career and although the Perrault and Andersen Prefects held fairytale nicknames, they usually ate alone as Grimm was not welcome on the table.

Of course, there were many other boys at Dalton with fairytale names, even some staff, but they didn't join us for lunch. This was either because we were not particularly friendly with everyone or they didn't know what the twins called them (or they were staff, which speaks for itself).

I had never quite understood why they called me the White Knight but Nick was the Nightingale. 

His voice was beautiful and could bring tears to the eyes of our old coach and the other Warblers. Although Blaine was magnificent, his arrival had pushed Nick back into ranks with the others. Nick often stated how absolutely fine he was with Miss Carmine's decision; everyone knew that he would be given another solo before graduation in senior year anyway. Blaine couldn't hold the top spot forever.

Watching as the Nightingale began to eat; I paused for a moment to look at him. Really taking in all of his features, I sighed quietly to myself as I remembered that Nick was straight and it was never going to happen. Even if he were gay, he wouldn't have wanted me anyway.

I was lazy and clumsy and ate enough for someone three times the size of me. My voice was nowhere near his level and my grades at Dalton were far below average. We had also been friends for a year, if he was interested, he would have made his move by then. I had to accept the fact that Nick and I were never going to happen and move on with my life but for some reason, I just couldn't do that. 

I found myself thinking about him constantly. If we weren't together, I was coming up with scenarios in my head of what we could be doing at that moment. In the most innocent sense, I dreamt about him. There had been many situations in which I'd texted him upon waking up lonely in the middle of the night and Nick had come running from Andersen, sneaking into the room I shared with Teddy to just hold and comfort me.

Although I hated to admit it, I was in love with him.

"Hello? Earth to Jeffrey?" Nick's curious eyes sparkled as he waved a hand in front of my face, pulling me from my daydream and back to the real world in which I was completely alone.

A delicate sneer crossed my face as I leaned back, away from his hand, and stared down at the tray of food in front of me. For one of the first times since I had started at Dalton the year before, I had completely lost my appetite, "Don't call me Jeffrey."

Rolling his eyes almost fondly, Nick picked up his fork and stabbed at his chicken salad with a gentle shrug, "Well, I said Jeff initially but you didn't respond for a good five minutes and I got lonely. Thinking of anyone special? What's his name? Is he here?" He began to look around the dining hall, trying to find the boy who had distracted me.

Oh, cruel world, how you mock me.

"No one special." My voice was weak and meek, attempting to distract him as I stared dedicatedly at my full tray of food.

Nick laughed as he nudged me with his shoulder, "Aw, come on, Jeffrey!" His playful nudging caused reluctant giggles to escape as I tried to remain cold, not wanting him to realise that there actually was someone special. If he kept guessing, I didn't think I could cope. I would probably have spontaneously combusted right then and there.

Grumbling quietly as I managed to compose myself and turning my face in the other direction, I pushed his hands away pitifully and attempted to scowl at him though it turned into more of a grimace, "I told you not to call me Jeffrey."

"It's your name, isn't it?" His sweet smile burned through my eyes as I stared at him in disbelief.

After pausing for a moment to take in his question, an awkward silence leapt into the air between us, "No!" Shoving his arm in shock, I couldn't help but scowl at the fact that after a whole year, the boy still thought that 'Jeff' was a nickname.

"Oh." Nick's expression deflated as an almost confused smile crossed his features upon watching me. He scratched at the back of his head in shame as I looked away, occasionally pushing back and rolling his eyes. Once I had eventually stopped fuming and slouched in my seat, he rested his head on his folded arms on the table and looked up at me innocently. I swear to you, it took everything I had not to coo at him though I thought that might be weird and just let him continue speaking, "I thought Jeff was short for-"

Interrupting quickly, I shook my head and corrected him before he could continue with the thought, as we both knew exactly where it was going, "Well you thought wrong. Is your name Nicholas?"

A smile adorned his face as he answered my question, chuckling gently as I rolled my eyes and sneered at him, "Yes, it is, actually." I have to admit, I really wasn't expecting that answer and it completely threw me off course.

"Oh." Nicholas Duval. Who knew?

Laughing as I knitted my eyebrows together and thought furiously of a time when I had heard someone refer to him as Nicholas, Nick sat upright once again and watched worriedly as I pushed my untouched tray of food away, "What is with you today? You've been acting funny ever since you asked me to teach you piano."

A short and sweet answer should have made him stop talking though even as I began to voice it, I knew that it wouldn't make him leave me alone. In fact, it would probably just make him fuss over me, "I'm tired."

Cooing obnoxiously, Nick ruffled my hair and pulled me against his side jokingly, snuggling into my neck and whispering, "Aww, is Jeffy sleepy?" just before I could push him away.

"Cut it out." Grimacing as he tightened his hands around my waist and laughed whilst I tried to shove him away from me. I hated it when he acted like that, all couple-y with me. It was fine for him but everything made me just want to grab at him and never let go.

Eventually pulling away when I began to forcefully shove at him, Nick stared in disbelief and watched as I rested my head on my arms on the table, examining the grooves of the wood, "Jeez, you really are grouchy. I can tell our teachers that you're feeling under the weather if you want to go back to Carroll?" Our schedules were identical for the rest of the day and the teachers liked Nick more than they liked me. If he asked for us to be excused, they were likely to agree.

I looked up at Nick curiously, seeing if he meant it before agreeing to anything. I knew what going back to Carroll would result. We would cuddle in my room whilst Nick watched a film and I would almost do something completely stupid just like always. I knew that he would never love me back, yet I had absolutely no self-restraint and began nodding reluctantly, "Please?"

 

Nick's warm scent filtered through my senses as I drifted in and out of consciousness, snuggled safely in his arms as he watched the movie playing on the TV on the other side of the room. We had Warbler practice in a couple of hours or so and therefore, I refused to fall asleep completely as then I really would be grumpy when it came to leaving.

Occasionally, I felt Nick's hand run up and down my arm, keeping me warm and making sure I was still alive to the world. Nick knew the drill. Warbler practice meant that I couldn't fall asleep.

We had made tea upon entering Carroll House and set an alarm that would tell us to make coffee just before having to leave for Warbler rehearsal. This was a necessity as otherwise, I would never have enough energy to traipse over to the main building, let alone sit through scales and slow songs without nodding off.

Nick's hand tightened around my waist and my breath hitched as he pulled me closer, pressing his body heat against mine as he dropped his hand until it rested on my hip. I hated being so close to him because I didn't trust myself but I also loved it at the same time. They were the times in which I could really focus on everything that made Nick Duval. These small details included the length of his eyelashes, the pigment in his cheeks and even how his chest rose and fell beneath my head.

A hand ran through my hair gently when I wriggled slightly to get comfortable, causing my body to go still as I shivered gently at his touch.

I had a serious problem.

 

Kurt's POV

As we stood outside the main building of Dalton, waiting for Blaine to leave his class and join us, my father paced back and forth slightly as he attempted to mull over the things that Dean Colet had said, "Kurt, I really think I'd be happier if you came home every night. I don't want you so far away, you're sixteen, you shouldn't be moving out yet. You're my son."

"Dad, I'm already stressed enough. I don't want to have to wake up at five every morning to travel to school and I can't drive yet, either. I'm not putting that on you. Carroll would be better for me." I knew why my dad was cautious; he didn't want to lose me. He'd come to terms with the fact that I'd be moving to New York as soon as possible but the idea that the house would be without me two years in advance obviously scared him.

A throat cleared behind us and we turned to see Blaine stood patiently with the Franco twins; however, he seemed slightly wary, "Excuse me, Mr Hummel? I couldn't help but overhear. I just wanted to say that I started at Dalton as a day student when my parents still lived in Ohio. We were only half an hour away and yet even I couldn't handle the commute. It was too much work; Dalton is famous for the excessive amounts of homework as it is. I became a boarder in Carroll long before my family moved to California. Kurt's told me how bad things were, as his best friend, I really would advise him to stay at school for his own health. It's not like he's moving away forever, he'll be back for holidays and some weekends."

One of the twins began speaking, I hadn't a clue at the time but looking back, I am sure that it was probably Dante, "Yeah, Mr H, Kurt would be better at Carroll with us!" A small giggle escaped his lips before Luca joined in for a chorus of, "We'll look after him!"

Eyes widening in confusion for a moment as my father looked from one tanned Franco to another, he simply shook his head and turned back to me, "Right, well. Kurt, I'll meet you at the carpark in two hours. Have fun, kiddo." He clapped me on the shoulder once before sending warning glances to each of the three boys eagerly bouncing on their toes by my side and walking away.

 

Sebastian's POV

Charlie's quiet giggles rose from the bench by the fountain as I struck various different poses for him, flexing different muscles and adding a few of my favourites from the Vogue magazines that my older sister read, "Keep still! 'Bastian, stop moving!" I stood in front of the water, waiting for Charlie to decide how he wanted me to stand for his latest art project. The art department had decided that portraits were the way to go and allowed the students to choose their own models. Approaching me, Charlie had asked sheepishly if I minded being his model, "I was going to ask the Francos because I thought twins could be interesting but Teddy got there first."

Snorting obnoxiously, I had brushed off my blazer and straightened my bag slowly, making Charlie wait for his answer purely for that comment, "Well, I don't normally accept being second choice but . . . since it's you . . ."

We'd made our way outside so that he could get started immediately, listing through his equipment on his fingers and checking his bag every two minutes to make sure that he had everything he needed, "Just here." Charlie gestured to the spot in front of the fountain that I was currently occupying whilst he set up shop on the bench before me.

"What do you want me to do?" It had been many years since I had modelled and never for an artist, my last gigs being a children's catalogue and an unofficial photoshoot for the Dalton website. I wasn't exactly sure how Charlie wanted me to stand but I had a feeling that my catalogue poses were not quite what he was looking for. Having seen previous pieces of Charlie's artwork, I knew that he went for a candid theme, nothing felt staged. It was as if he had just managed to perfectly capture a snapshot in time.

Smiling gently, Charlie turned away from me to flip through his sketchbook to a blank page, "Act natural."

Without thinking about it, my left hand had gone behind my head as my right rested on my outstretched hip, "Like this?" Checking that his pencils were sharp as he turned around, Charlie began to laugh uncontrollably. His laugh always made me smile; it was like beautiful chiming bells.

"Maybe not quite like that." Placing his equipment down, Charlie stepped forwards and looked over me for a second as he decided on what he would like me to do. Almost tentatively, the shorter boy reached out and pushed down on my shoulders until I was sitting on the edge of the fountain, looking up expectantly whilst he moulded my limbs the way he wanted them. 

Being deliberately awkward as he attempted to lace my fingers together, an annoyed huff escaped Charlie's lips as he cuffed me over the ear once before positioning my head at an angle, "Move and I will end you, Smythe."

Gentle laughter rose in my chest at his empty threat though after a few minutes of sitting like that, my muscles began to cramp, "I'm going to suggest that you take a picture and draw from that. Otherwise, you'll have to start again with someone else because I'm terribly sorry but I'm about to lose my foot and we can't lose one of the Warblers’ best dancers."

Pulling out his phone reluctantly, Charlie sneered softly after the first picture came out blurry and took another, "Why are you so arrogant and good at everything? It's not fair."

A loud scoff leapt from my body as I waited for Charlie to nod before standing and coming over to see what he had done so far, "Says you, look at that! I can't draw for shit and it's not like you can't sing, you just don't want to in front of people." He had done a quick sketch of the proportions but he had started with my eyes and they were incredibly hyper-realistic.

"Yes, well. What good has that ever done me in the past? What good will this ever do me?" He paused here, looking away from the picture on his phone and staring at his smudged fingers, "I'm just going to be a struggling artist forever."

Shaking my head softly, I laughed at Charlie as he worried about the future, "Charles Beauregard. Please snap out of it and remember who you are. You may be a struggling artist forever but at least you will also be a millionaire for the rest of your days. It's not like this is going to send you into the poverty cycle, you rich prick."

A delicate smile graced the lips of my friend as he looked back up at me and reached out to pull me onto the bench next to him, "I suppose you're right. I am being a little melodramatic."

"A little?" My mischievous smile lasted for a mere second before he hit at me again, eventually resting his weight against me as he continued working on the portrait. I didn't have to be at Warbler rehearsal for another twenty minutes so I decided to spend this time watching him, observing how his eyebrows knitted together when attempting to perfect the minute details of my skin and my face. Occasionally he would look up to me to see the things that his phone's camera couldn't quite make out and our eyes would meet, causing him to blush furiously and return to his work.

Unfortunately, this peace didn't last long as Hunter Clarington approached us, striding ever so elegantly and taking a seat on the other side of me, "Boys, I have been wronged."

Although Charlie and I were sick of Hunter's antics, we had been friends for years. Even our families had been friends for generations as we were all fourth generation legacies at Dalton. The only other family with as much prestige in the halls of Dalton Academy were the Francos though they were from Carroll. As with every other generation, we had been friends until it came to picking a House at Dalton. As expected, we followed the family traditions and each joined our respective Houses. Unfortunately for the Italians, this meant Carroll. 

Neither Perrault nor Andersen had fault with Carroll. It was the rivalry with Grimm that had made the friendship tense and awkward and so although we still claimed to be each other's best friends, Dante and Luca rarely spoke with Hunter.

"What now?" My tone obviously came across as degrading as Charlie shot me a warning glance and Hunter merely sneered before answering the question.

He straightened his blazer and took great pleasure in pausing before informing us though I was almost certain that we already knew the answer, "Carroll." There it was. The million-dollar word. Not that the Dalton boys needed any more money but if we had a dollar for every time Hunter blamed the Carroll boys for something going wrong, no one would have to break into their trust fund until they were at least fifty six, "That pathetic Prefect of theirs didn't even bother bringing the new student to see Grimm. I sat outside for an hour before one of my minions had to inform me that they weren't coming!"

Remaining silent until the end of the story, it was better to just allow Hunter to let it out, I waited for a chance to reason with him and eventually found one by clearing my throat to get him to stop, "Well, we could have told you that. They were half an hour late to meet me outside Perrault. Something about a hold-up with the Franco twins. Mind you, Kurt's an enchanting specimen. I can see why Blaine would want to keep him to himself."

"I bet he's not gay." Musing mostly to himself, Charlie chuckled at me and shook his head in disapproval. In Charlie's world, everyone was straight until proven gay. In my world, everyone could be swayed.

Raising my eyebrows towards my friend, I laughed gently as I recalled the boy who'd walked through the halls of Perrault earlier that morning, "I'd put money on the fact that he is." I didn't normally agree with stereotypes but you had to admit, Kurt Hummel was a walking example of what the Western world imagined a gay person to be.

Charlie looked back at me sceptically before raising an offer carefully, watching at all times to see my reaction, "One hundred bucks?"

"Deal." One hundred dollars was nothing to us so with that, we shook on it.

Grumbling under his breath, it was obvious that Hunter was furious. He probably wouldn't have minded if it had been just any old student but rumour had it that the new kid was already friends with a Carroll and Hunter didn't appreciate being left out by the boys with the red badges, "Do we know which Carroll he's friendly with?"

"He seems quite friendly with Blaine." Charlie didn't often join in conversation with Hunter anymore as he disapproved of the way the Grimm Prefect treated other students and called the boys he ruled over his 'minions'. Being an Andersen, Charlie was a very peaceful person and staged silent boycotts rather than actually confronting Hunter. However, he occasionally offered nuggets of information if it looked like our friend was angry.

I nodded quickly, agreeing that it was probably Blaine that the new kid was friends with though wincing internally. If Kurt was friends with Blaine, Hunter would do anything in his power to make his stay at Dalton as difficult as possible.

Snarling at the idea of being stood up by a friend of Blaine Anderson, Hunter scowled and kicked the gravel beneath his shoes. He looked out across the fountain and the Dalton gardens, towards the lake as he thought of ways to 'achieve his revenge' (as he so often put it), "Honestly, Anderson is a waste of a good Prefect position on somebody worthy's college application. I have no idea what you ever saw in him, Smythe."

A low blow from that boy if ever I'd heard one.

 

Third person

"Shouldn't you two have class?" Attempting to argue with the Franco twins was quickly found to be an impossible endeavour as they traipsed behind them, eager to please by pointing out as many 'important spots' as possible. Unfortunately, many of these 'important spots' merely consisted of places they had been able to squirt teachers with water guns from and escape unseen.

Blaine and Kurt had spent most of the first hour wandering the halls of Dalton Academy, flanked by Dante and Luca as they pointed things out in Italian and relied on Blaine to translate. Blaine Anderson quite evidently wasn't fluent in Italian but he knew enough about the language and about the two boys speaking it to generally know what was being said. Quite often, however, it was obvious that he was just taking guesses from his knowledge of the school.

"Oh, oh, oh! This, here, is la menza ."

Shaking his head fondly, Blaine followed up Luca's comment by informing Kurt that it was, in fact, the dining hall though the brunette was almost certain that he could have come to that conclusion himself. They passed the grand doors, sitting slightly open so that the smell of delicious foods could drift through the halls of Dalton and entice the students. Just from passing the kitchens, Kurt knew that the catering would be far better than McKinley. Hopefully, no more tater tots for the rest of his life.

After visiting the classrooms, the science labs and even the gym, the phones of each of the three Warblers beeped simultaneously. They quickly groaned upon seeing the message though their eyes lit up immediately as Blaine turned to Kurt with an idea, "We have to go to Warbler rehearsal now. Would you like to come? I'm sure Miss Carmine wouldn't mind, she knows you want to join."

The four boys raced quickly down the hall to the Warbler room where they quickly collected themselves before pushing the double doors open to see that very few boys had arrived quite so quickly. Seeing Miss Carmine by the window, Blaine strode towards her with a wide smile on his face, plastering on the charm that Kurt had seen before with his father. Kurt and the Francos watched anxiously from the doorway, the twins clutching at the sleeves of Kurt's shirt desperately.

Blaine eventually returned with an ecstatic grin and an eager nod, causing the twins to drag Kurt towards what seemed to be their usual spot by the piano. Taking Kurt's hand, Blaine struggled to pull himself onto the lid before helping Kurt hop up gracefully beside him.

Once the room had filled more, the divide between the Houses was clear. Day students, although there weren't many of them, seemed to sit where they pleased without bother from the boys wearing coloured badges to signify their House. The Carroll boys donned red shields and took up most of the room, mainly surrounding Blaine around the piano though they merged between the ranks of yellow shields for Perrault and green for Andersen.

However, quite secluded from the other Houses, boys wearing blue shields sat together in a group. Kurt could easily hazard a guess that these were the boys from Grimm. One boy sat in the front, slightly further over than the others. He seemed to be more comfortable with people from other Houses as he sat beside Sebastian and Charlie, the respective Prefects from Perrault and Andersen. It was clear that this boy was the Grimm Prefect, as although the others disapproved of his mingling, they dared not say anything. This boy was Lucifer.

Miss Carmine managed to gather the attention of the boys, clapping her hands together once caused the room to immediately go silent. She offered a smile, her eyes warm and welcoming as she looked over the boys settled on Kurt, "Warblers, you may have noticed that a stranger sits among you. This is Kurt. Dean Colet has informed me that he is going to be our first countertenor for fifteen years when he officially transfers next week. Therefore, this is going to be a very relaxed session as we allow Mr Hummel to become acquainted with his fellow Warblers and see how we run here. For god's sake, don't scare him away." Polite applause followed her speech as the boys looked to Kurt with intrigue splattered across their faces, eager to see what the slight boy could do.

Sitting at the piano, practically inhabited by Carroll students, Miss Carmine offered a reassuring smile to Kurt before taking the boys through their scales, "You don't have to join in yet if you don't to. Surprise us at your audition. Trust me, from what Dean Colet's said, you're already a Warbler in my eyes but it's a tradition we've stuck to for years."

Blaine's arm rested casually behind Kurt as he ran through the notes, grinning at him occasionally as the brunette watched in fascination. His arm was so close to touching Kurt's back and yet the anxious, younger boy consciously sat forward to stop that from happening. He was panicked and didn't want Blaine to think he was weird if he leaned against him. However, once the boys had finished their scales and the best of their altos had run out of steam at the middle of Kurt's range, Blaine nudged him with his shoulder and told him to relax. He lay his hand around Kurt's hip and tugged him closer until Kurt's head could rest in the crook of his neck.

The boys that Kurt had met earlier at Carroll sat beside each other on the sofas. Wes and David playfully shoving each other every time Miss Carmine took a break to gather music and although Luca was still on the other side of Kurt, Dante had left to sit with Teddy. The quieter boy's legs rested gently on the lap of the Italian as they argued about Teddy's nickname of 'Dormouse'. He didn't seem happy to have such a meek creature to his name yet Dante fought back that it fit him perfectly and there was nothing wrong with being meek, ". . . besides, it's already been chosen. There's no going back now."

Jeff and Nick sat in the join between Carroll and Andersen, Jeff's back resting against Nick's chest on their sofa as he fiddled gently with the weight of his friend's fingertips. A delicate, smitten smile radiated obviously from almost all of Jeff's features yet Nick simply stared at his phone with his free hand, tapping at things occasionally.

The Warblers, for the most part, were incredibly friendly. They were constantly grinning and the lack of insults being thrown from one side of the room to the other really surprised Kurt. Admittedly, it seemed that Sebastian became a little more brazen around his friends yet the charm still radiated from his every move. It didn't seem to faze the other Prefects, who merely laughed along as he pointed out faults in the décor or the way they had styled their hair that day. He held Charlie's feet on his lap so that the boy could prop his knees up and hold his sketchbook against them. Blaine had informed Kurt that although Charlie wasn't technically a Warbler, he had a talented voice and was always welcome to join in with rehearsals. The poor boy was merely too shy to go on stage.

Without a moment's warning, Dante and Luca had pulled out water guns from under the sofas and began squirting everyone in the room with the exception of Miss Carmine, the group of Carrolls from before and Kurt. Instead, they threw flimsy ponchos to each of them before chasing down the Warblers who were running from them.

"Miss Carmine, I'm so sorry. I told them to be good today!" Blaine's frantic exclamation caused the boys in the nearby area to stop and watch the exchange, worry setting in that their coach would blame it on the Carroll Prefect and stop him from singing.

Kurt had been bundled under the piano immediately by Teddy, who was scrambling to pull the pathetic poncho over his head and urging Kurt to do the same, as their vocal coach sighed and looked around at the carnage, "Don't worry, Blaine. I don't expect you to be able to control those two." She shook her head in disbelief as the twins screamed war cries in Italian.

Nodding quickly in return, Blaine threw his hands into the air before Wes pulled him behind a sofa. A splash of water hit the wall exactly where his head had been just mere seconds earlier.

Luca's gun rested on Charlie's temple and the shorter boy gulped as he turned slightly to face his attacker, "Any last words, Beauregard?" A smug grin played across Luca's features as the boy before him began to stutter profusely.

Although the twins and Charlie were still friendly, almost anyone could tell you that Luca, at least, was probably mentally unstable. An actual look of fear dawned across Charlie's features as he worried that Luca would happily knock him out with the handle of the gun rather than just using the pistol for its intended purpose.

That expression of doubt was all Kurt needed and so, just before Luca pulled the trigger, he dove from his hiding place and positioned himself directly between Luca and the Andersen Prefect, "Baissez votre arme, s'il vous plait! "

Sebastian immediately rose from where he had been perched anxiously behind the sofa and joined Kurt between the pair, "Oui, s'il te plaît! " He grabbed at Charlie's forearm behind him, protecting the scared boy from the Tweedle.

A tense silence filled the room as every single Warbler turned to see how this would play out. Kurt and Luca kept eye contact for several seconds before Luca eventually allowed his gun to drop to his side. After a little while longer, a wide smile spread across his face before he took Kurt in for a hug, "Blaine! He's perfect for you; just like 'Bastian. You two were such a cute couple! If you won't take him back at least go for this cuter, French-speaking alternative!"

Awkward laughter resounded as the rest of the Warblers continued righting the furniture that the twins had managed to knock over and removing wet blazers as Miss Carmine shook her head in disbelief.

Kurt and Sebastian shared a glance before the shorter boy couldn't help it and had to begin speaking, "Tu parle le français? "

"Bien sûr ." An almost sheepish smile had crossed Sebastian's face upon realising that Charlie's hand had slipped into his own and they both dropped grips quickly, Charlie trotting off to be comforted by his Andersen boys, "I live in Paris "

Raising an eyebrow delicately, Kurt folded his arms and smiled warmly towards Sebastian, "I think we're going to be friends."

A wide grin spread across the Prefect's face as he shook Kurt's hand and clapped him on the back with his left hand, "It would be a pleasure." Pausing, Sebastian considered whether what he was about to say was appropriate for a new friendship but he decided against his better judgement. Things were at stake here, "One quick question though . . ."

"Anything." Kurt smiled lightly, urging the boy to go on as he caught sight of Blaine gesturing desperately for him to follow in the background of the conversation.

"Are you gay?"

 

Kurt's POV

Sitting in a circle on the stage of the McKinley auditorium, I was surrounded by people who had been my friends for years, people who I had only recently met and people who had initially been cruel to me though had turned their view around completely.

I looked from one face to the next, drinking in their features and attempting to remember each and every one of them in the best way. Making a conscious effort to look past Rachel's obnoxious personality, Mercedes' initial mess of a wardrobe and Noah's bullying from before we became friends. It was one thing to think that we would never share a class again, but that we would never even pass in the halls?

I couldn't stay at McKinley, it wasn't safe for me, but that didn't make leaving any easier.

Although the glee club usually met on a Wednesday, Friday was my last official school day and so they had decided to meet to celebrate my contribution to the New Directions after school. It was heart-warming, to say the least.

Mr Schue led the gathering with brief anecdotes at my time at McKinley and songs of hope and love in between. However, it wasn't long before Rachel practically took control as she stood and walked towards where Brad sat at the piano, offering some sheet music with a smile. She then turned to me, watching the crowd for a moment to assure that she had the attention of everyone when she began, "I think I speak for everyone when I say that you will be dearly missed at McKinley-"

Interrupting quickly, I offered a comment that caused laughter from my fellow New Directions, "Rachel, I'm not dying."

A malicious smile spread jokingly across Rachel's face for a second before she continued, "I am aware that, unfortunately, your voice is only being given to the opposition instead of ceasing to exist. However, as much as it pains me to say it, the person behind the voice is a dear friend of ours and the fact that he'll no longer be in our lives every day saddens us." A smattering of applause occurred as the New Directions agreed with Rachel, nodding along with some of my closer friends wiping at their eyes, "Therefore, I'm taking this opportunity to sing something melancholy and cry through my solo."

Rounds of nods flooded through my friends as the typically un-Rachel-like display became all about her and started to make sense as the notes of 'Always Starting Over' began playing from If/Then.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Word count: 7507
> 
> I forgot to mention before that Teddy, Charlie, Dante and Luca are my original characters just in case anyone was wondering. I'm usually very cautious about putting in original characters as I know how people in other fandoms react to them but I'm not going to be a fanfic writer for the rest of my life so I thought I'd add some of my own faces.  
> Dante and Luca are inspired by Fred and George from Harry Potter (don't kill me but I've only read two of the books) and as sketchy as it sounds, Teddy and Charlie are inspired by two of the boys at my school.
> 
> Are you enjoying this story? Please tell me if you're enjoying it. I have been putting my entire heart into this since April (minus the time spent on Relighting Candles and Graceless Heart and- you know, my GCSEs) and I really want you all to love it because I'm actually so very proud of it.
> 
> Thoughts?
> 
> ~ Rowan


	3. Alice and Dinah

Third Person POV

"Why do I have to be part of the welcome party? I've never even met the new kid!"

Carroll's finest Warblers rushed through their House, gathering the people they thought they might need and trying to convince the twins to 'just slow down and cooperate for once!'  
Blaine Anderson rolled his eyes as he ran from Elliott, not really listening to what he was saying as his frantic search for the somewhat tidier Carrolls continued to no avail, "Carroll's look best when part of a group."

A snort came from Jeff, who was running behind them, fastening his tie as he went and grumbling about how Nick hadn't been allowed in that morning because of the new arrival, "Because we're usually scruffy and this way they'll have more to focus on so won't be able to point things out?"

"Exactly."

 

Burt Hummel's silver truck pulled into the Carroll House car park slowly, easing into the closest space to the doors. Interestingly, the boys who had licenses had chosen to park as far away as possible. He cut the engine and took a moment to just stare at the wheel in front of him before looking across to see Carol in the passenger seat. 

The car was silent for a minute before quiet sniffles rose in the backseat, where a panicked Kurt had suddenly realised that he might not see his family for a few weeks.

"Oh, come 'ere, little bro!" Reaching across the gap between them, Finn wrapped his long arm around Kurt's shoulder and pulled him closer to him comfortingly, causing Kurt to laugh quietly and push back at him. A wide grin spread across Finn's face as soon as he had seen that he'd made Kurt smile; that hadn't been happening too often.

Climbing out of the car, the little merged family met behind the car where Kurt immediately accepted his father's seventh hug of the day and breathed in the scent of him, "I'm gonna miss ya, Bud."

Tightening his grip around his dad's torso momentarily, Kurt nodded though said nothing. He had already said his goodbyes at their house in Lima and didn't want to start sobbing again.

A loud crash sounded, causing the pair to jump apart as one of the heavy Carroll doors had somehow slammed open and eight boys in Dalton blazers had come running out. They practically tripped over each other as they tried to form a neat line, with the tallest in the middle and the shortest at the ends. Blaine Anderson yelled instructions at them, directing them as to who was taller than who, "C'mon boys! They'll be here soon!" He quickly raced to his idea of the left end of the line, checking against Wes to make sure that he really was the shortest on that side. The line continued Jeff, Dante, Luca, Elliott, David and then the tiny, 5'5", Teddy.

Burt cleared his throat awkwardly as the Hummel-Hudson clan peered out from behind their car, becoming visible to the boys who hadn't been paying attention to the car park in their hurry to be ready for the new arrival.

Complaints rose quickly as the seven other boys hurled fond abuse at Blaine for making them stand outside in the cool Westerville air unnecessarily, "Mr Hummel! You're early." Blaine quickly straightened his tie and hopped down the steps to meet them, panic flashing through his eyes as he worried how much of his yelling they had heard.

"Actually, Blaine, we're ten minutes late." Kurt smiled gently, wiping his eyes and sniffling as he attempted to fully compose himself. He came forward to meet the hand Blaine had offered him as soon as he had seen the tears trembling in the taller boy's eyes and gripped it tightly. 

Blood rushed to Blaine's cheeks as he checked his watch on his free wrist and saw that they were, in fact, twelve minutes later than expected, "Oh."

"Wait, Mr Hummel?" Elliott had caught sight of the older man in the cap when Blaine had gone to greet him and immediately began thinking of where he had seen him before. Once the quivering brunette had taken Blaine's hand, it had hit him immediately, "Kurt!"

Whipping his head around at the sound of his name, Kurt's eyes landed on Elliott and lit up ecstatically, "Ellie!" 

Much to the complaints of the other Carroll boys, Elliott broke ranks and ran down the steps to fling his arms around Kurt, swaying the smaller boy with elated laughter. Eventually, they pulled apart and simply looked at each other, grinning as they bounced on the balls of their feet in excitement.

"You know each other?" Finn looked on cautiously, not sure if he should trust this new boy around his little brother or not. The first thing he had done had been practically barrel into him, despite Kurt's petite frame.

Kurt was too busy talking with Elliott to answer his brother's question so Burt took it with a smile, "That's Elliott Gilbert. Kurt's mother was friends with his; Elliott was Kurt's best friend until the Gilberts moved away." He adjusted his cap with a small sniffle as he wiped his eyes discreetly, he had to admit, he suddenly felt a lot better about leaving Kurt at Dalton.

Bouncing down the steps, the twins stopped just behind where Kurt and Elliott were still jumping around and immediately joined in before Dante voiced a quick, "What's going on, Dinah?"

"Kurt started 'Starchild'!" Elliott grinned widely, looking to where Blaine stood smiling at the side and grabbing his arm to make him join the celebrations, "We used to be best friends." He watched as Blaine laughed and bounced beside Kurt, wrapping his arm around the other boy's waist and allowing Kurt to giggle into his neck. Smiling knowingly, Elliott eventually calmed and just stood watching his old friend.

Realisation quickly dawned on Kurt's face as he looked up to his old friend, "Starchild! That's where I knew that name! Oh my god, I can't believe I forgot." He giggled quietly as he remembered calling him that the day Elliott had turned up to school with glitter in his dark hair, "I hear you're famous now?"

"We're trying. My agent's pushing for an EP to give me a chance." Blushing softly, Elliott scratched the back of his neck as a proud grin spread across his features. He was trying to be humble but it was more than obvious that he was extremely proud of his accomplishments.

Kurt hugged him again quickly before returning to his spot at Blaine's side and allowed his pride to practically seep over the edges as he became slightly overwhelmed and hopped about giddily, "That's so impressive! I can't believe you called yourself Starchild, though, I'd have ditched that as soon as I could." 

Laughter erupted behind them as Wes and David interrupted Elliott's excuse with a quick, mocking rendition of, "It means a lot to me!" Harmonies, riffs and all. It caused the other boys to completely fall out of line at the top of the Carroll steps as they lost all composure.

"Well, it does mean a lot to me!" Elliott smiled gently, rolling his eyes as he waved his hand at them to make them leave him alone, "Hey, we were going to offer you your own room but now that I know it's you, do you want to bunk with me?" A hopeful smile played on Elliott's features as for a moment, Kurt looked unsure.

However, this was soon proved to be an act as, eyes lighting up once again, Kurt nodded quickly as he looked up to his taller friend, "I'd love that!"

"Right, well, we'll help you bring your bags up but then we really have to be going, Kurt. Finn has to get back to school for the afternoon and I have to be at the shop." Burt approached the five boys, placing his hand on the small of Kurt's back and discreetly prising him away from Blaine's grasp for just a second.

 

"I think that's everything." Kurt's father dropped the last of the suitcases beside the door to what had previously only been Elliott's room with a tired huff, looking around in astonishment at the size of the place. He had certainly been expecting something much smaller.

Whistling as he dropped the mattress onto the bed that had been brought in for Kurt, Elliott took one look at the bags piled high by the door and couldn't stop himself from laughing. Bringing all of your clothes to a school with a uniform was such a Kurt thing to do, "My, you certainly don't travel light, Hummel. Then, you never did; not even for sleepovers." 

Kurt let out an almost embarrassed chuckle, bowing his head as his cheeks flamed and Blaine's arms wrapped around his waist jokingly, "Oh, hush." Swatting Blaine's arms away, Kurt turned and slapped his cheek lightly before hugging Carol quickly and turning to Finn. Raising his chin so that he could look his brother in the eye, Kurt offered a hand for him to shake, "Keep the New Directions in check for me?"

Surprise took over the smaller boy's features as instead of accepting the handshake, Finn leapt forwards and enveloped him in a tight hug, "Always."

Coming away from Finn, Kurt smiled almost sheepishly as he didn't quite know what to say. He really hadn't been expecting that and so, instead, turned to his father who had removed his hat and was wiping awkwardly at his eyes, "Dad."

Burt had stepped forward the moment he had heard his son's voice crack over his name. He grabbed him by the shoulder as soon as his arms could reach him and brought Kurt in for a warm embrace immediately. His damp cheeks left a small circle on Kurt's top but he knew that his son wouldn't care and simply held the fragile boy tighter to his body, "I'm gonna miss you, Bud. You'll come home every now and again, right?"

Nodding, Kurt clutched his father tightly, breathing in the smell of his cologne and trying to hold onto the memory. Without wanting to embarrass his son, Burt simply pulled away from the hug and patted the side of his head as he took Carol's hand and led the small family from the room.

The unruly group of students stood in silence for a minute as Kurt watched the door that had closed behind his family, seemingly entranced by it. 

This eventually ended when Blaine placed his hand gingerly on the small of his back and allowed the taller boy to lean into him, making a gesture for someone to start talking and break the silence.

Taking the bait, Dante leapt immediately into conversation as he turned to the open suitcase that sat at the end of Kurt's bed, "Alice, you've got so many clothes! We have a uniform, what are these for?" He drew five ascots from the top layer of the suitcase, jumping back as Kurt snatched them from his grip before folding them gently.

"Don't crease them!" Laying the neckties on the bed, Kurt turned to find the other boys agreeing though quickly gestured towards the bursting closets at either side of the room, "Look at Elliott's closets!"

Elliott shuffled from foot to foot as the others laughed at him, nodding along as he watched Kurt's arms fold and his foot tap expectantly, "It's true; I'll empty it tonight after classes for you so if we can just leave those for now?" He saw Kurt nod and smiled gratefully, missing the boys shaking their heads behind him mirthfully.

Laughing gently, Blaine approached once more and lifted a book from one of the bags, examining the back of Waiting for Godot, "We've got the morning off to help you unpack, Kurt, so just tell us what you want us to do." 

"Right, well, these are my books. Uhm, if you could put them on the shelves in alphabetical order, Jeff?" Kurt took the book from Blaine and placed it carefully with the others before handing the somewhat heavy bag to the bleached blond who stood by the bookshelves. "Elliott can do these clothes, which will be going in the drawers." A separate duffel was lifted from beside the bed to the exclamations of Dante and Luca though they were warned to remain silent, "Could you two find a home for Elliott's instruments?" His guitars and pianos had had to be moved in order to fit Kurt's bed though it certainly was not a tight squeeze. The rooms at Dalton were more than generous. Finding a laptop bag, Kurt offered it to Theodore and raised his eyebrows to the desk behind the boy, "Teddy, could you do my desk, please? Blaine, can you help with my toiletries?" David and Wes had had to leave for a Warbler Council meeting so that left everyone with a job to do.

A chorus of affirmative synonyms could be heard after each instruction as Blaine nodded and followed Kurt's lead into the bathroom.

 

Setting about laying the school supplies in orderly piles, Theodore ignored the chaos around him. He took one of the paintbrushes from his back pocket and set the handle between his teeth, musical soundtracks playing through the small buds that rested in his ears. He couldn't hear Jeff dropping books every few seconds or Elliott shouting for Dante and Luca to be careful with his digital piano. Nor could he hear the twins running through songs that they had found fallen down the back of the heavy instrument. He missed Elliott ditching his task and playing the music for the song and Jeff laughing through the harmonies.

In fact, he didn't even notice when his phone died in his pocket as he could still hear Play from Finding Neverland.

Eventually, Jeff hopped over the bed and pulled Theodore's headphones out, urging him to join in. The pair danced around for a little, Theodore's laughter ringing out as he realised that he had thought his friends were the soundtrack. He took Sylvia's part, attempting to reach the high notes though struggling as even though he had one of the highest vocal ranges in the Warblers, he was still a tenor.

 

Listening to the commotion going on outside, Blaine and Kurt laughed as they worked fluidly, setting moisturising and hair products along the counter. Occasionally joining in when they knew words, Kurt decided to hide his full range from Blaine until his formal Warbler audition and so left Sylvia's solos.

Lifting a small retainer box from Kurt's bag, Blaine's suspicions grew immediately when he heard it rattle as he knew that Kurt had always had perfect teeth. He popped the lid open and saw three silver razor blades, lying innocently in waiting, "Kurt, I know you said you were sad when we met but do you still do it?" Blaine frowned as he saw the panic behind Kurt's eyes upon seeing what he was holding though he wasn't overly bothered. He had told Blaine about it when they'd become firm friends, wanting someone who he knew wouldn't judge him.

"Very rarely." Kurt's panic subsided slightly as he took the box from Blaine and tucked it to the back of his cupboard, "I don't really ever use it." 

As he began to chew anxiously on his lip, Blaine watched carefully to see where Kurt put it. He planned to ask Elliott to keep an eye on him and also on the box. If he noticed that the amount of blades changed, Blaine wanted to know immediately so that he could confront Kurt, "Then do you need it?"

Shuffling awkwardly on his feet, Kurt avoided Blaine's glance as best as he could whilst trying to brush it off as though nothing had happened. He didn't want to disappoint him and he knew that Blaine wanted to see him throw the box away there and then but he just couldn't bring himself to do it, "I just like to know that it's there. In case I ever do need it." Blaine didn't know about everything and just being away from the people whom had hurt him didn't make all of Kurt's problems go away.

Although Blaine didn't want to accept that Kurt couldn't throw it away, he knew his friend well enough to know that something deeper was going on. Approaching Kurt calmly, Blaine placed his hand as carefully as he could on Kurt's shoulder and turned him around into a tight hug, "Good, because I don't want to lose you, Kurt. I don't know what I'd do." 

 

Kurt's POV

Wandering the halls of Dalton alone, I could feel myself growing more and more lost as I struggled to find the Warbler room.

Miss Carmine had demanded that the other boys stop helping me settle in and attend their lessons at lunch so I had been left for two hours to fend for myself. I was fine with that; that was fine. What wasn't fine was the text telling me to find my way to the Warbler room to hang out with them after school. I don't know what kind of navigator they thought I was but I couldn't remember the hallways they'd had me sprint through the week before.

"Are you lost, little Warbler?"

Spinning on my heel, I came face to face with the Grimm Prefect. A smug grin spread across his face as he watched me struggle to come up with an answer before eventually being able to voice a meek, "I'm not a Warbler."

He gave a small huff of mock indignation and shook his head, folding his arms with a smile, "As good as. Where are you looking for?" His voice, almost disapproving, sounded as though he wanted to appear suave and charming though his body language remained cold. Nothing that he did elicited any form of warmth from me and so I made no attempt to move closer.

"Uhh- Blaine said to meet him in the Warbler room." Breaking, my voice struggled to keep up with what I wanted to say as I really wasn't good when alone with new people. I whimpered slightly as he took a step forwards and took two back of my own.

The boy chuckled in amusement, shaking his head at me and waving it off, "You're probably struggling because you're in the wrong wing. Follow me." Taking off down the hall immediately, I made the split second decision to follow him and trotted aimlessly at his heels. The silence was awkward for a minute or two, until he decided to speak up again, trying to make conversation, "Found any friends in Carroll yet?"

"Yes, actually. Blaine, obviously, then there's Jeff and Teddy who are really great. The twins kind of scare me but they've been nothing but kind and Elliott was my best friend when I was younger." When I thought about it, I had made more friends in my short at Dalton than I ever had before. Yes, I'd had Mercedes and Rachel and Finn would always look after me, but I had always thought that the others merely tolerated me. It wasn't as if they liked me, I was just an unusual voice for Glee Club, nothing special in a group with female sopranos.

Nodding along, the Grimm Prefect smiled softly, "The Rabbit, the White Knight, the Dormouse, the Tweedles and Dinah, eh?"

His behaviour didn't exactly make me more comfortable as he seemed as though he was sizing me up and so, I kept a reasonable distance between us as we walked, "Uhm, yes? Charlie and Sebastian seemed really nice when I met them last week, too. I'm really sorry but what was your name, again?"

"Oh, of course, how rude of me! Hunter Clarington . . . or Lucifer. Whichever you prefer." Offering a hand for me to shake, he grinned as I took it hesitantly, "I'm good friends with Sebastian and Charlie; they're good people."

A small smile from me seemed to throw him off the topic as he turned and began walking again, "Right, well, I'm Kurt." 

Chuckling gently, Hunter nodded over his shoulder and caught my gaze. Even though it was for the briefest of seconds, it made me incredibly uncomfortable and felt as though it went on for forever, "I know, Alice, I waited for you outside Grimm last week."

For the first time, I allowed a frown to cross my features as I tried to think why we hadn't made it to Grimm, "I thought Blaine had told you? Dante and Luca had managed to lock Teddy in a closet and we had to get him out. We didn't have time for our last tour." Pausing slightly as I watched him take this information in, I felt terrible for keeping the boy waiting even though I hadn't known, "I'm really sorry to have wasted your time."

"Don't worry about it, it's just nice to know that there's an actual excuse. I thought I'd just been stood up. I wouldn't be surprised; after all, Blaine was giving your tour. We don't exactly see eye to eye." It was obvious that there was something more going on than slight disagreement though I decided not to push it as we approached the Warbler room doors.

Conversation stopped as we pushed the doors open to see the boys lounging on and around one of the many plush sofas on offer.

"Kurt! . . . and Hunter . . ." Blaine had immediately rushed to meet me though faltered slightly when he saw the boy stood behind. However, he quickly came forward again to hug me and lead me to the others.

Refusing to respond for a moment, I believe that the others sensed something was somewhat off, "Blaine, why didn't you tell Hunter we wouldn't make it last week?" 

I saw his brain stop working as he struggled to find something to say, looking around almost in shame at the others who kept their heads facing downwards. Words seemed to fail him as he attempted to find something that just wasn't there. Eventually, managing to string a coherent sentence together, Blaine gave a light shrug and offered, "It must have slipped my mind."

There was a volatile silence then, full of everything and at the same time full of nothing. If I had only known the people in the room a little better, I would have been able to know what was going on in the same way that I felt everyone else did. Hunter, although showing no signs of feeling awkward, quickly glanced towards the door and croaked through an excuse, "Right, well, I'd better be going." He turned to leave, reaching the door before someone spoke up.

"Hunter, why don't you stay?" For the first time, I noticed that the Prefect from Perrault was sat slightly apart from the main group though with Dante and Luca flanking him. It was obvious that he was trying to be polite and possibly lower the tensions that I had noticed between Hunter and the boys from Carroll. Behind him, Wes and David appeared to groan inwardly and although Blaine tried to hide his distaste, I could still see the wince through Sebastian's words. I almost felt bad for Hunter, thinking that he wouldn't want to stay though he sat with Sebastian almost obediently. However, it was evident that he didn't want to be there.

As I dropped myself between Blaine and Teddy, I watched the other boys begin to gather into somewhat of a circle, "What are we doing?" 

Blaine scoffed fondly, ruffling through my hair as he gestured to the middle of the circle where I could see a blank Scrabble board sitting between us. Noticing what I was wearing, Blaine allowed a grin to spread across his cheeks as he pulled at the lapel of the Dalton blazer that I wore over my normal clothes, "You're looking very dapper, by the way. It suits you; I like it." Red grazed the tops of my cheeks as I glanced away from him, swatting his hand away though only for it to rest behind me. 

All in the short moment that I had been distracted, it seemed that teams had assembled around me. Elliott had joined Blaine and me as Jeff and Nick had invited Wes to join them. Hunter stayed attached to Sebastian as he was obviously still very uncomfortable and Luca joined them whilst Dante hopped down from the sofa to drag Teddy away. They had formed a team with David and now sat opposite us on the other side of the circle.

Taking the lead, Luca stood from his position on the sofa to go through the rules of Scrabble. It seemed as if the rules were a sort of tradition as although the other boys had obviously done this many times, they still sat attentively to listen, "Oh- our special rule! If you cannot think of a word, you make something up. Remember, we vote on whether you get the points or not based on the definition you give for the word." I looked to Blaine who was smiling, rubbing his hands together and grinning at me. 

Scrabble was obviously a very competitive sport.

 

Third person POV

Sebastian placed down the tiles for his team carefully, spelling out the word before declaring it aloud, "Debonair." There was silence for a moment as the other boys mulled it over.

"Means?" Luca sat behind Sebastian and Hunter, playing Patience by himself on the sofa as he usually struggled with English words anyway so although he liked the concept of the game, he always had to give up half way through. This one word caused Sebastian to turn around and cuff him gently over the ear.

Laughing, Dante jumped up and onto the sofa where he could push at his brother jokingly, "That's a real word, idiota!" This caused Luca to scowl at him as he shook his head in disbelief.

Pushing his brother back, Luca scoffed as Dante tumbled to the floor with a giggle. He collected his cards into a neat pile as Dante had scattered them everywhere, fighting his cause, "Is not! 'Debonair' does not sound like a real word."

"Yes, it does." Wes smiled gently, correcting the twin as he sorted through his tiles and tried to find a good word for his team. The other Warblers didn't seem too fazed by the spat, causing Kurt to realise that this must happen relatively regularly. Snarling at Wes, Luca began shuffling his cards before laying them out before him again.

Still laughing, despite having been pushed to the floor, Dante hopped up again and ruffled his brother's hair, "You're not fluent, Luca, how would you know?" 

In an instant, Luca's face hardened and he slapped Dante's hand away almost violently, "Oh, vaffanculo, fata!" There was silence for a moment before Dante stood silently and retreated carefully to his place between Teddy and David. It was obvious to Kurt that no one knew what had been said yet no one wanted to interject and ask.

After a minute or two of silence, Kurt cleared his throat meekly and recited the definition by memory, "Debonair; confident, stylish and charming." This quickly set the game rolling again as the moment was forgotten.

However, the blond boy with the watercolour smudges kept a wary eye on his silent teammate. 

 

Sebastian's POV

It was a Monday; that meant Polo.

As much as I loved the sport, I also loved sleeping so I tended to loathe the scheduled evening training. My ponies, however, were my favourite part of my day. Most boys at Dalton only brought one with them. I brought three. 

Under normal Polo circumstances, I would have at least four to keep them fresh and not overwork them so even the small luxury that my family could afford was less than I was used to. 

Although they were sweet and gentle, I loved looking after them mostly because Charlie always demanded on tagging along. He loved his horses at home but he didn't play the sport so the school would not allow him to keep even one in the stables. Therefore, I allowed him to treat one of mine as his own. 

This special one was called Merlin. We'd found him at a riding school, ridiculously talented and ridiculously cheap. Charlie loved him because he was quiet and it took far more than a bird flying out of a neighbouring bush to send his chestnut flank running.

Walking alongside Charlie, I leaned down and ruffled his hair, pointing out the roots growing through and offering to pay to get it dyed again. He smiled up at me, resting a hand on Merlin's shoulder as he moved the grass with my mallet, "Seriously, I know you need this month and next month's allowance for that easel."

Charlie shook his head slightly, smiling faintly once again as we approached the playing field where Nick, Jeff, Teddy, Hunter, Dante and Luca were waiting with the rest of the team, "Why am I not surprised that you'd remember something as trivial as that?" He chuckled, watching the other players converse naturally; their mallets rested on their shoulders as their horses fretted anxiously, eager to get going.

"Nothing about you is trivial, Beauregard." A wicked grin emerged from behind my eyes as I watched him turn his face away, cheeks reddening. It was always fun to mess with him. He blushed so easily, it would be a crime not to take advantage of that.

Our coach eventually arrived, calling the players to a semi-circle in the centre of the field and so I took my mallet from Charlie, walking over to join the others whilst my eyes remained fixed on the boy walking to the stands. It was safe to say that I was a little more than distracted our coach ran through the rules, it was a Dalton policy to recap the rules before each practise. I didn't exactly need to listen when I had been playing long enough to recite the rules by heart but they still demanded your attention.

Charlie didn't compete. He could, he was damn good, but he just couldn't bring himself to play in front of so many people. It was just like the Warblers. We all knew he could sing but he refused to do so for an audience.

Eventually getting into the game, I trotted behind for a little while, watching as Nick and Jeff slung the ball back and forth between them on their way to the posts. Nick usually played as number one with Jeff as his number two though occasionally the Franco twins took their place. I was team captain so I remained at number three and Jack Lockhart, one of my Perrault boys, was our number four. The other team members either tended to make up a second squad or waited on the sidelines in case one of us was injured. Teddy, for example, played brilliantly. However, he was left-handed and the rules state that you must hit right-handed for safety reasons. Although Teddy was still good with his right, he was also weaker and somewhat shaky so we tended to put him as a substitute.

In Polo, number one does most of the scoring whilst number two tends to be their backup. They help with scoring goals yet have a better defensive position than number one. Captain goes in number three, where we can score occasionally though also help with defence whilst still maintaining a good vantage point to determine the strategies. Number four remains in defence, stopping the other team from making goals.

Resting my mallet on my right shoulder, I urged Merlin into a canter to catch up with the others. In a match setting, I would be told to stay back but since it was only training, I was allowed to ride up front to get some goals in.

Hunter lay in wait as he was playing for the opposing team's number four and so, I called for Nick to pass the ball my way before darting around Hunter's skewbald mare to drive it passed the posts. Performing an elegant little piaffe as I rode away, I heard clapping coming from the stands and glanced over to salute to Charlie, who was on his feet and celebrating for me.

Approaching on his grey mare, Sealy, Jeff reached over and patted me on the shoulder as Nick came up on the other side. He kept more of a distance as Califa, his pony, was still relatively young, "Good one, Bastian!"

I watched them trot away absentmindedly, smiling as Nick leaned over to brush Jeff's fringe from his eyes. The game went on with little disturbances; each side scored goals though that was to be expected with Nick and Jeff, and Dante and Luca up front for their respective teams. There were no major incidents or accidents.

That is, however, until the momentum from one of Luca's swings propelled his mallet arcing round to smash Dante on the side of his helmet. 

Thankfully, it didn't strike his skull but the force was enough to knock him clean off his palomino mare. Sundance ran straight away, panicked from the lack of a rider and unsure of where to go, she stuck close beside Luca and Midas who had stopped almost immediately. 

Catching Sundance's reins and swinging Midas' over his head, Luca tossed them to Jack as he dismounted quickly, "Hey, Dante, come va ?" He dropped to his brother's side just as Teddy approached, leading his horse by her reins and kneeling beside the unconscious boy. Dante was Teddy's best friend so seeing him so helpless must have been a shock, "Dante, mi dispiace. Svegliati!" 

The distress was evident in the older twin's eyes as our coach came running, he instructed the other boys to take their horses back inside, "Lockhart, take Sundance. Duval take Midas, Sterling take Ayres' pony and somebody take Smythe's damn pony!" Nick took Midas from Jack, waiting as Jeff prised Afterglow's reins from Teddy's hand. Running across the field, Charlie took Merlin from me as I dismounted, giving him quick instructions to walk him to cool off and positioning my helmet on his head. 

I turned to help Luca lift Dante as Teddy stayed close by his side, our coach muttering profanities as we travelled towards the main building of the school and to the nurse's office. It wasn't often that we had accidents in Polo, especially during training, but when we did, they were usually bad.

This didn't look particularly bad, we had had collisions with horses before and those usually ended up the worst. However, Dante was still unconscious and it was highly likely that he would wake up a concussion.

Sighs escaped the nurse's station as we rushed passed and to a bed in our Polo uniforms. Nurse Gilner approached, shaking his head as he immediately set to removing Dante's helmet, finding blood sticking his usual blond hair to the space around his right ear, "What happened?" He turned to the coach for an explanation but it was Luca who started speaking first.

"Cazzo! Io lui colpito. Mi dispiace, è stato un incidente!" There was silence after that as I watched Teddy trying to figure out if he knew what any of those words meant and yet coming up with nothing.

Resting his hand gently on Luca's shoulder and leading him away from Dante's side for a moment, our coach offered him a seat at the back of the room as he poured out water, "Luca, we're going to need you to speak English." He handed the plastic cup to Luca, watching him drain it silently before taking it again to refill it.

After a short moment, Luca had seemed to calm himself and was able to explain, "I hit him  . . . but it was an accident this time!" 

'This time'? Everybody knew that Luca was probably at least a little mentally unstable and could easily turn violent with his anger issues that we all knew he harboured but 'this time' implied that he hit Dante often. However, Nurse Gilner's face was one of fondness, rather than horror so I concluded that he must mean it hadn't been one of their hair-brained schemes that had put one of them in the infirmary.

There was silence until our coach decided to speak up again, "Somebody send for the Carroll Prefect." 

"I'll go." With that, I was gone, jogging down the hall before anyone could call me back. I had duties to attend to at Perrault and I didn't want to have to tear either of the other two away from Dante so, despite being his captain, I was happy to forfeit a place at his bedside to fetch his Prefect.

 

Kurt's POV

Sitting in Blaine's dorm room, I watched as played his piano and smiled fondly at him. I could see the notes in his eyes, hear the emotion through the keys; I knew this piece and it was taking everything in me not to sit and join him on that tiny little piano stool.

The moment was sweet but it was also short as before I could think of moving any closer to where the dark-haired boy was playing, the doors were thrust open and Sebastian came running in, "Blaine! There's been an accident; Dante's in the infirmary. You'd better come too, Kurt, Teddy's going to need someone to stop him from worrying himself sick."

Just like that, we were out of the room and down the Carroll stairs two at a time. We left Sebastian at the fountain as we kept running towards the main building, my feet practically touching Blaine's heels; I tried desperately to keep up and only managed to catch my breath when we came to a skidding stop outside of a pair of double doors. Blaine allowed us a moment to compose ourselves before he pushed through the doors to find a small crowd around the closest bed.

It appeared that Dante was awake, shaking off hugs from Teddy and repeatedly urging his coach that he would be fine to play in the next week. Sebastian's had explained the polo mallet incident on the way over and so we were well informed but that was all we knew.

The school nurse, a man whom I did not know, was busy checking his temperature and holding up a certain amount of fingers to see if Dante was disorientated, "Can you tell me when you were born?" He continued scribbling on his clipboard as Blaine informed me that the man was called Nurse Gilner and that he was Dalton's daytime nurse whilst Nurse Scott worked the night shifts.

After answering all of the questions up to that point perfectly, people were starting to lose interest as to whether he could or not. Initially, we'd been waiting with bated breath to see if he needed to go to the hospital but it was becoming apparent that Dante was fine, "12th of May"

Nodding along, Nurse Gilner appeared to be becoming just as restless as he wrapped a bandage carefully around a wound on the side of Dante's head, "and where?"

"Castelluccio, Italia." We all looked to Luca for confirmation, who nodded quickly before resting his head back in his hands. It was evident that he blamed himself for the whole ordeal so I sat with him whilst the interrogation was wrapped up.

Finally fixing the dressing, Nurse Gilner asked his final question, "Do you have any siblings?"

This was where there was silence. Long, dreadful silence that caused Luca's head to snap upright and my hand to tighten around his shoulder. I could see Dante's brain working, see him fighting through answers, "Elina ,"

"Sì ." Luca had sat forward, seeing as Dante was apparently naming other siblings first.

There was a longer pause here, causing Luca's shoulder to slump once again as Dante began chewing anxiously at his bottom lip. It was obvious that he just wanted to get them right but also that it was a little harder than it should have been, ". . . Juliette ,"

Leaping forwards for the second time, Luca nodded, egging him on, "Sì !"

As before, a tense silence filled the air yet Luca refused to be defeated this time. He continued leaning forwards as Dante opened and closed his mouth, as if the name was on the tip of his tongue. I could even see him mouthing his own name every time Dante went to say something.

No one could have predicted what Dante said next.

". . . e  . . . Lucie ?"

I have to admit that snorts erupted from most of the people in the room as Luca threatened to throw a pillow across at his brother before descending into chuckles himself. Even he had to admit that it was at least a little comedic.

Smiling, Nurse Gilner finished writing something down in his notes as he nodded along, "Close enough. Blaine Anderson?" He approached Blaine at that point, reading the previous sheets of paper that he had written as he went through the instructions on how Dante was to be cared for, "We're giving him a wheelchair for the trip to Carroll but that is all it is to be used for. I expect Franco to be on bedrest until tomorrow at least, possibly the day after; I will come to check on him tomorrow. He has a slight concussion with minimal memory loss, mostly just a headache, so I am making it your job to keep the entire House quiet. I don't want to hear so much as a mouse when I come by tomorrow."

Gulping, Blaine nodded along to what was being said but I could tell that he was worried about how quiet he could make Carroll. I had been a resident for a day and yet I already knew how noisy those boys tended to be,

Blaine helped Luca lift Dante, carefully placing the somewhat dazed boy in the chair as Teddy gripped onto the handles determinedly, as if letting go would cause another accident even though the brakes were on. Blaine joined me at the back of the little procession, running forward to hold open doors and clear obstacles occasionally as Luca wheeled his brother through the school and across to Carroll House. 

Running to keep up with the boys in the wheelchair, Teddy struggled to follow along as Luca raced recklessly across the school grounds, grinning as Dante laughed and clung to the chair. Blaine had given up trying to stop them. Eventually, they wheeled around and caught up with Teddy once again, this time allowing time for Dante to pull him onto his lap on the chair.

Teddy let out a squeak as he felt Dante's arms wrap around his waist, the wind whistling through their hair as Luca propelled them forwards. I couldn't help but laugh at the boys, nudging Blaine upon seeing his steely expression and grinning when he finally saw the humour in the situation. Although I was still watching the boys to make sure nothing went wrong, most of my attention had switched to Blaine; the way he walked, the way he smiled and even the way the classic Victorian lampposts, which lined the path, reflected in his eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Word count: 7052
> 
> Gosh, I don't think you know how much I love writing this story.
> 
> Merlin (one of Sebastian's polo ponies) is based on one of my favourites from my stables who had to be sold because he was too advanced for most of their riders. Even my instructor thought we worked wonderfully together though I've had George and Promise since then so I suppose it's good that we both moved on.
> 
> In other news, I've started my first ever Creative Writing course and it's the best thing I've ever done with my life. The teacher is wonderful and we're all just crying every session because she knows exactly how to pry the emotions out of people. She really loves my work as well, which obviously helps.
> 
> Thoughts?
> 
> ~ Rowan


	4. Prince Phillip or the White Rabbit

Blaine Anderson was just a little more than exhausted. He had been up for the entirety of the previous night, making sure that the House was silent in order to allow Dante to rest; morning had broken and Blaine was swaying on his feet outside the Italian's door by the time he felt sun filtering through the sheer curtains.

The Carroll boys, however, had been uncharacteristically accommodating. They had tiptoed delicately around the House, silent as mice, since Blaine had called a meeting in the common room the evening before to tell them that Dante needed the quiet for his head. Careful to avoid the room at the end of the first floor's corridor, very few people had ventured far enough down for their soft footsteps to be heard. Even Luca had been surprisingly quiet, staying overnight in Kurt and Elliott's room to give his brother some space. Blaine had allowed Teddy to stay with him, knowing that Luca would only get restless and would probably disrupt the sleeping boy, much to Blaine's dismay.

At the stroke of half six, Blaine heard a door creak open a little further down the hallway and caught sight of Kurt padding out of his room silently. The taller boy didn't turn his head to see Blaine but continued to the stairs, taking them as quietly as possible. Normally, Blaine would have followed him; however, he was far too exhausted to think properly and simply continued to sway gently as his eyelids drooped shut.

He smelt the coffee first. 

The bitter smell of the coffee struck memories in Blaine's head of smiles over coffee shop tables and morning dates with the boy with the perfectly coiffed locks; French pickup lines and chestnut hair.

Without warning, Blaine felt a hand rest gingerly on his shoulder, waking him slightly. Blinking tiredness away, he glanced up to see Kurt smiling warmly at him. The boy was already dressed in the Dalton uniform, tie somewhat crooked and loose as he offered the steaming mug to his raven-haired friend, "I thought you might want a little caffeine if you're going to lessons today."

Smiling fondly, Blaine took the cup and slid down to a sitting position beside the door, patting the floor beside him and grinning as he saw Kurt join him. He felt Kurt rest his head on his shoulder as he took his first sip, scalding his tongue slightly yet sighing at the taste of the liquid, "What would I do without you, Hummel?" Quiet chuckles escaped the both of them as Blaine set the mug down beside him and reached across to fix Kurt's tie, his fingers wrapping carefully around the fabric to tuck and fold it correctly, "Ready for your first day at Dalton, Warbler?"

Kurt sighed quietly, his breath fanning over Blaine's skin as he looked up at the boy through parted lashes, "I'm not a Warbler, Blaine." He smiled calmly as he watched Blaine take another sip of coffee, finally cool enough to drink, and pushed his nose gently into the exposed skin of his friend's neck. It was something that he'd always done and Blaine had accepted it almost immediately. Ever since he was little, Kurt had been very touchy-feely with friends and close family members. Holding hands was never something reserved for romantic relationships; all Kurt wanted was a sense of intimacy, to feel needed, and he was perfectly fine with receiving that from the people around him everyday.

"You will be." Standing slowly, Blaine took a moment to steady himself before leaning back down and offering Kurt his hand, "Now look lively because Nurse Gilner will be here any minute!" Their hands wrapped together for a moment as he lifted Kurt to his feet, laughing as the slighter boy squeaked and struggled upon feeling his body leave the floor. He unlaced their fingers and allowed an arm to lay lazily over the back of his friend's shoulders, coffee cup in the other hand as he attempted to stifle a yawn, "Gosh, I always regret all-nighters. Exam weeks are never fun periods of time."

Shaking his head, Kurt laughed at the smaller boy as he leaned into his arm. They spent a few moments of comfortable silence, just revelling in the warmth coming from the other body and occasionally stealing glances at the other's face, smiles cut off by biting lower lips. The sound of the Carroll doors opening and closing rang through the building as the only noise so early in the morning, shocking the pair into teasing laughter upon watching each other jump. The boys didn't have to be in lessons until nine so many didn't surface until eight, and that was only if they wanted a chance at a good breakfast. Hearing footsteps on the grand staircase, Blaine quickly extracted his arm from Kurt's shoulders. Sliding the empty coffee mug along the floor and through his open dorm room door just off to the left, he stood straight and nudged Kurt, urging the brunette to do the same. Nurse Gilner reached the top of the stairs with the Perrault Prefect and Polo Captain in tow.

The pair approached them calmly, Nurse Gilner's trusty clipboard in hand as he ignored the boy walking a step or two behind him, "Mr Anderson, I assure that everything's been quiet over night?" 

It was a little evident that the school nurse was not expecting a positive answer as his frown lifted into a somewhat surprised scowl when Blaine managed to choke out, "Perfectly silent, sir." Blaine shuffled from foot to foot, waiting for Nurse Gilner to say anything to fill the silence. He glanced across to Kurt occasionally, begging for reassurance and finding comfort in the pale eyes of the boy stood beside him.

A loud bang sounded down the hall as Luca came barrelling from Kurt's room obnoxiously, feet thudding against the wooden floorboards in his heavy boots and skidding to a clumsy halt, "Mi dispiace!  Did I miss it?"  He bumped shoulders with Sebastian somewhat jokingly and found himself gaining a furious sneer from Blaine.

"Keep your voice down, Luca; your brother needs rest." The Carroll Prefect was very obviously at the end of his tether as the tips of his ears reddened and he turned to assure Nurse Gilner that that was the first time anything disruptive had happened since leaving his office.

Kurt found Sebastian catching his eye as an awkwardness settled over the other boys. He felt his cheeks flush slightly as the boy from Perrault offered a grin, winking in his direction and crossing the space silently to stand beside him whilst his companion was distracted. Nudging Kurt gently, Sebastian offered his shoulder as a rest for the tired boy and smiled as Kurt accepted graciously. He felt the weight of Kurt against him, warmth flooding from the point on his body where Kurt made contact and allowed an arm to lay loosely around his waist to stop the boy from slipping.

Eventually, Blaine turned to the Franco's door and knocked gently. Without waiting for an answer, he turned the doorknob and pushed the old door open eerily silently. He knew that the Francos kept their hinges oiled so that no one would hear them sneaking about but the easy swing still shocked Blaine. The lights were off and the small group stood in darkness for a second until Blaine managed to feel his way over to the bedside and flick the table lamp on. This revealed Dante lying carefully against the pillow, head turned to the person slumped in the chair beside him. 

A hand was rested carefully on Teddy's shoulder as Blaine shook him awake tenderly. Teddy, eyes fluttering open, looked up to see people standing over him and quickly pulled his hand from where it rested in Dante's grasp, "Is it morning already?" He stole one last glance towards Dante, touching the back of his fingers against the tanned boy's cheek delicately before standing from his chair.

Smiling calmly, Blaine nodded and led the young artist away to allow Nurse Gilner room to examine his patient, "Afraid so, Teddy." He chuckled, wiping blue watercolour paint from the boy's cheekbone and shook his head before looking down to the sketchbook open on Luca's bed, "You did this?"

A blush coated Teddy's cheeks furiously as he nodded and took the book, offering it for Blaine to have a better look, "He asked me to paint him so I did that whilst I sang him to sleep." The painting showed Dante snuggled into his pillow, his skin and hair quite muted and washed out. Most of the colour had gone to the explosion coming from Teddy's head, a large firework of ideas erupting around him and behind his eyes. It was something of an honour to look at Teddy's artwork. He very rarely allowed people free rein to his sketchbook though was perfectly willing for his friends to flick through when they pleased.

"Sometimes I forget you're so talented. You really belong in Andersen." Chuckling, Blaine flipped through a couple of other sketches before offering the book back to Teddy and looking to see how Nurse Gilner was getting on. His attention, however, was distracted when he saw Kurt giggling quietly with Sebastian and allowing the taller boy to fiddle with his hair, teasing as he fixed it for him. Blaine felt a pit open up in his stomach, wishing for it to just swallow him whole as he watched the two boys interact, each movement bringing them closer together.

Standing from Dante's bedside, Nurse Gilner called the small collection of students together, scowling as Luca tripped over one of his own shoes and smacked his knee against the bedpost, "Mr Franco appears to have recovered well. The concussion has passed; however, I want him to stay on bedrest until tomorrow morning. I shall sign you out of lessons, Mr Ayres, because I wish for you to watch him. He may still feel somewhat nauseous." With a nod towards Teddy, he collected his clipboard and small medical bag before leaving the room and leaving the boys in a stunned silence.

They listened for the thudding on the steps and let out a relieved sigh as the grand doors swung closed. Shoulders sagging and uneasy grimaces falling into relaxed smiles.

"I'd say that that went well." Luca grinned, turning expectantly to the other boys though faltering when he saw their folded arms and disapproving faces. Stepping back at the sheer force of intimidation radiating from the boys in front of him, Luca gulped and shuddered slightly, "What?"

Somewhat weak laughter erupted from the bed behind them, causing the four boys to swing around and be faced with a barely stirring Dante. He struggled to sit up slightly, pushing up against his pillow as he chuckled, "Don't be so hard on him, capinere. He can't help that he's molto clumsy." A wide smile spread across Teddy's face as he rushed back to his friend's bedside, clutching for his hand and giggling as the tired boy lolled his head towards him lazily, "How are you feeling, carino?"

Scoffing, Teddy pushed Dante's hand away as he giggled at the boy's antics, "I should be asking you that, not the other way around!" They smiled at each other for a moment; simply meeting each other's eyes before Teddy would blush and turn away, eliciting coos from three of the four boys watching

 

It was lunchtime and Kurt was alone in the Warbler room. He'd decided to practise his audition song and so was running through As If We Never Said Goodbye from Sunset Boulevard for the fiftieth time. This was quite a big deal for Kurt so he'd told Blaine to run along and play with his Warbler friends for the time being. He wanted it to be a surprise. The actual audition, however, Kurt was dreading. Yes, he wanted to shock the Warblers with his range but he couldn't get over the nerve-wracking concept of standing up and singing on his own. It wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't for the first time in front of his new peers.

What if they hated his voice?

Fingers gliding over the ivory keys effortlessly, Kurt went through his scales both with the instrument and with his voice. He found himself taking three octaves at a time before deciding that he should stop and stretched his fingers out, wincing as he cracked them before placing them gingerly over the desired keys. He took one last glance at the sheet music before disregarding it completely. After all, Kurt tended to learn the notes off by heart anyway.

Miss Carmine had stopped tentatively at the door, just about to enter when she heard someone playing the piano and deciding to wait patiently. The door remained slightly ajar and she could see that it was the new student sitting on the piano stool, his hands dancing across the keys. Pianists were always useful.

However, it was when he started singing that she was truly shocked. After just two lines, Miss Carmine swung around and grabbed the nearest Warbler by his lapel to hiss into his ear, "Get the boys here, now!"

Struggling to get away, Sebastian panicked slightly before she let him out of her grip, "What, why?" He brushed his blazer down and straightened his tie, finding himself still a little shaken.

His questioning was soon silenced, however, when she pulled him in to listen at the door. He caught sight of the back of Kurt's head and heard his melodic voice over the notes. Staggering away slightly as he took his phone from his pocket, Sebastian began to nod absently and quickly pulled open the Tweedles' group chat for 'fairytale folk'. Using this, he summoned the others with a single music note and a red heart emoji. The music note was the symbol they used when wishing to summon each other to the Warbler room and the red heart represented that it was the Red Queen who wanted them. 

Soon enough, a small crowd had gathered outside the door and, standing silently, the Warblers listened to Kurt singing with delight written plainly across their faces. When the song had finished, Miss Carmine stepped into the room delicately, her feet barely making a sound as she clapped for the boy who swung around in his chair. The Warblers who had managed to gather in time to hear Kurt's song cheered excessively as they stormed the room, flocking to Kurt and pulling him in to one large group hug.

Once the crowd had dispersed slightly, Blaine laid his hands on Kurt's shoulders with a somewhat giddy smile, "I knew you'd be good, Warbler, but Christ!"

Kurt's cheeks reddened as he pushed Blaine away, rubbing his forearms almost awkwardly as he shuffled from foot to foot, "I'm not a Warbler, Blaine." His eyebrows furrowed slightly as he watched Blaine shaking his head and struggled to escape his friend's teasing bear hug. He pushed at the boy's chest, finding himself laughing as he felt his arms pinned to his sides and his feet brush Blaine's patent leather shoes.

"I don't think you'll be denied entry after that. We don't have any countertenors." Arms wrapped around Kurt's smaller body, Blaine laughed as he stopped Kurt from pulling away, seeing the laughter crinkling around his friend's eyes as he tickled his sides. Kurt pushed playfully, giggling as he doubled over to avoid Blaine's torments.

Stepping forward, Miss Carmine smiled fondly at the antics of her students, pushing strands of auburn hair back into her messy ponytail, "Now, Mr Anderson, please don't harass your fellow Warbler." As she took in Kurt's shocked expression, Miss Carmine allowed a delicate smile to flicker across her face, "Of course, if you still wish to go through the formal audition process, that's fine. However, after hearing that, I can assure you that you'll most definitely be joining us at sectionals."

Blaine punched his friend lightly on the shoulder, laughing as the brunette didn't quite know what to do, "What did I tell you, Warbler?" He watched Kurt scowl jokingly and raised his hand to pat his friend's 'bruise' better, "Don't be pathetic, I barely touched you!" Their smiles spread from ear to ear as the hug was reinitiated, Kurt's arms wrapped almost desperately around Blaine's neck this time as his chin rested on his friend's shoulder.

Across the other side of the room, Hunter approached his two friends quietly from behind. Laying a hand on Charlie's shoulder, he scoffed as the boy jumped a foot or so away out of shock, "I will not allow Anderson to brainwash that poor boy into a Carroll mind-set, he's too talented for his own good."

Sebastian huffed slightly, smirking as he looked towards Kurt and Blaine, "Speaking of Kurt, that reminds me. I'm owed a hundred bucks. To quote the boy himself: 'gay as all shit'." Offering a hand, Sebastian raised his eyebrows at Charlie until the boy reluctantly handed over two fifty-dollar notes. He flicked through them dramatically, pretending to make sure that they were real before shaking his friend's hand, "Pleasure doing business with you, Beauregard."

"Why do I always get the impression that you two don't take me seriously?" Scowling, Hunter turned away from the new Warbler to see his friends grinning at each other. He cuffed them both over the ear lightly, chuckling as they complained and raised their hands in unison.

 

"Hey, Blaine, pass it here!" The blue Frisbee sailed through the air and into Elliott's outstretched hand, whizzing a few metres ahead of the brunette boy who sat alone on the shore. The sun shone down on the boys, reflecting off the lake and causing the water to shimmer gently around Blaine and Elliott's ankles. They had rolled their trousers up to their knees and left their blazers, ties, shoes, and socks neatly placed on the sand. Tossing the Frisbee towards each other in the shallows of the Dalton lake, they laughed and grinned, not really caring if the water splashed onto their clothes or not.

Classes had ended for the day and, already, Kurt felt like he was drowning in mountains of homework. Scribbling notes for an essay due in the next two days, Kurt had chosen to sit out on the activity and watch their things from the shore. He would look up every now and again from his paper, pencil in hand, to see his friends grinning, splashing water at each other and attempting trick shots with the blue disk. Kurt always wrote with pencil. He liked his work to look neat and with a pencil, he could always rub out mistakes.

After a few minutes, Kurt felt a body rest beside him. He looked across to see Sebastian holding his usual grin on his face and motioning towards Kurt's open notebook, "Mrs Pravus, eh?" 

A frown flickered across Kurt's lips, eyebrows furrowing in confusion as he drew his eyes back down to his notebook and sighed at the somewhat illegible scribbles, "How did you know?" His handwriting always looked awful when he was stressed and the scratches were practically atrocious.

"The twins don't call her the Evil Queen for nothing." Chuckling, Sebastian took the notebook from Kurt's hands and read the notes quickly whilst Kurt hung the end of his pencil between his lips. Occasionally, Sebastian would take the pencil and adjust something that Kurt had written; returning it to its earlier position after every change, he made Kurt laugh and smiled at the sound, "You're already doing pretty well though. This is a good start for a first Dalton essay."

Kurt's eyes rolled in exasperation, pushing Sebastian to giggles at his fed up face and eventually settling into a grimace, "Gosh, don't get me started! It's my first day and already he wants a five-page essay! Meno male  I'm not that bad at English."

Chuckling, Sebastian took the pencil from between his lips again and jotted something down on the notes page with a small smile before placing it between his own teeth, "You're picking up Italian quickly. That's my phone number, by the way. You seem cool." His gentle smile wound its way to his eyes, watching Kurt's face flush slightly at the compliment. He reached up to scratch at the back of his neck as he looked away to see Blaine and Elliott were still tossing the Frisbee, "Boys, huh?"

Huffing in amusement, Kurt followed Sebastian's gaze to see Blaine tackling Elliott into the water, soaking their clothes, "Tell me about it. Elliott won't be coming into our room dripping wet." He shook his head with a sigh as Sebastian chuckled, pushing at Kurt gently and before they continued to watch the two boys in silence for a couple of minutes. Returning to Sebastian's earlier point, Kurt suddenly decided to address it and merely shrugged with a delicate smile, "What can I say? I'm good at languages. Thank you for your phone number, by the way, Sebastian." He looked up to meet the green eyes of the boy with the perfect smirk.

A wince spread across Sebastian's face as Kurt finished his point, "Please, Bastian is fine. No one calls me 'Sebastian'; it's too pretentious, even for the boys of Dalton Academy." He smiled as Kurt nodded and waved off the boy's profuse apologies with a reassuring grin, "It's fine, honestly. You're welcome, by the way. Languages can be very useful at Dalton."

Placing his arm behind Kurt almost calculatedly, Sebastian's fingers brushed the back of Kurt's arm delicately on their way there, causing the smaller boy to lean against him and rest his head on Sebastian's shoulder. They remained silent for a moment, merely watching the sun lower over the Dalton Lake and taking in the fresh scent of the forest to their left. Birdsong rang somewhat merrily over their heads and crickets chirped from the trees.

Blaine glanced across to Kurt for the first time in a few minutes, only to see him leaning against Sebastian's body peacefully. A small scowl passed behind his eyes for a moment before he launched the Frisbee almost aggressively towards Elliott. He walked from the lake silently, shutting down as he grabbed his things from beside Kurt and sat to play on his phone, about three metres from the others. Ignoring Kurt's question of whether he was okay, Blaine simply placed his headphones in his ears to block them out without a word.

Having watched the whole thing, Elliott's face held a knowing smirk as he clutched the blue disk to his chest, alone in the water.   
He knew exactly why Blaine wasn't okay.

 

After having left Kurt at the lake, Sebastian knew that he probably needed to check on his horses and approached the stable giddily. He could already smell the hay and the straw, happy as he'd had a rather long day and just wanted to relieve some stress. Having already changed into jodhpurs, Sebastian was planning on taking either Promise or George out for some exercise along the forest track as he'd ridden Merlin the day before.

Popping his head over Merlin's stable door, he found the chestnut lying in the straw with Charlie and a knowing smile crossed his features, "Why am I not surprised that you're in here?" He grinned as the white-haired boy raised his head almost sheepishly, standing quietly so as not to disturb the resting gelding.

"Sorry." A blush crossed Charlie's freckled cheeks, causing Sebastian to laugh and pull him out of the stable fondly. It was almost a silent agreement that they would meet at the stables to exercise Sebastian's horses together. Although it had never been explicitly stated, Sebastian knew to meet Charlie in Merlin's stable, usually catching him drawing or rubbing delicate circles over the horse's ears to relax him.

Leading him across the tack room, Sebastian tossed Charlie a helmet, smirking as he fumbled so as not to drop it, "Take George out for me? I'll come on Promise." He watched Charlie nod and set the hat down to collect George's tack, finding Promise's things himself before heading out to meet the piebald mare.

She pressed herself against the door excitedly upon seeing her tack, trying to get as close as she could without breaking the door down. They had definitely made progress. The month before, she would have just jumped out. Promise was only four, still very young and actually still had a little growing left to do. However, she was probably the most naturally talented of Sebastian's ponies and if he were to pick a favourite, she would definitely be it. No matter what, she was always willing to do anything and trusted the rider far more than necessary. You could point her at anything and she'd help to bring you safely through.

Her young age, unfortunately, meant that Charlie refused to ride her. He'd seen how difficult she could be and was a bit of a nervous rider as it was. Nothing that Sebastian could do would make that boy ride the pony that he thought was perfect for him.

Sebastian adjusted her martingale before leading her out of the stable, finding Charlie already waiting aboard the flurry of browns and auburns that made up George, "Hurry up, slow poke!"

Laughing, Sebastian stuck his middle finger up at his friend, checking Promise's girth before swinging himself into the saddle gracefully. He checked his stirrup leathers out of instinct, despite no other person riding her as he turned his head to Charlie and found that the stirrups hit his ankle bone perfectly, "The forest?"

As he nodded quickly, Charlie allowed a smile to cross his face whilst he waited, brushing George's mane to the side patiently, "The forest." They always rode through the forest in the evening as the other of Dalton's bridle paths had been without lights for quite some time. 

The two boys headed away from the stable block, following the dusty trail towards the trees and laughing as they relayed the parts of their days that they hadn't been around for. Old-fashioned streetlamps lined their way through the woods, shining from within the trees and creating a warm glow that filtered through the leaves to draw speckles across the path, "You should have heard Kurt sing, Beauregard! That boy is fantastic. Part of me wants Clarington to stop him from being friendly with Blaine so that I can get a look in."

Charlie had remained silent through Sebastian's recount of the impromptu Warbler meeting at lunch. This wasn't rare; often, Charlie would say nothing at all. He merely thought and most of the time, he was too busy with his nose buried in his sketchbook to think of replies eloquent enough to keep up with his friend. Lowering his head slightly, Charlie angled it just so that Sebastian couldn't see his eyes stinging and his nose turning pink. Sebastian didn't often use first names. Those were reserved for the people he truly cared about and although he would never admit, Charlie had waited years to hear an affectionate nickname come tumbling from his friend's lips in his direction.

"I know it's really random but do you know why the twins call you the Tin Soldier? I mean, I get some of their nicknames but I can't wrap my head around yours. Didn't he die in love? That's pretty vague, were they getting desperate?" There was silence for a moment as Charlie refused to answer. His eyes had widened drastically and he was thankful that he'd already been hiding his face. Charlie knew exactly why the twins called him the Tin Soldier and he'd always thought it particularly cruel. Everyone else was named after a physical attribute or a personality trait, "Wait, do the Tweedles know something that I don't? Do you have a boyfriend?"

Choking slightly, Charlie couldn't stop himself from coughing as he attempted to brush the questions away, "No- No! I don't, they don't know anything. They were just being cruel- joking about how I'd die alone. Don't worry about it." He kept his head angled downwards, wishing for the conversation to end and silently thanking whatever was up there when he saw the stable block appear in the distance.

"Race you!" Within a second of the shout leaping from Sebastian's lips, his legs had wrapped around Promise's body and the piebald mare had taken off with an excited whinny. Sebastian sat up slightly, hovering over the saddle whilst still keeping his body low to allow the little pony to stretch her legs. Being only young, Promise wasn't yet quite as strong as she should be so although she could easily carry Sebastian's slight body, he couldn't really bring himself to risk weighing her down. 

Tutting, Charlie shook his head though laughed and urged George on into a gallop. He was usually the sensible one though he couldn't let Sebastian leave him in the dust like that. George, although far older, easily caught up with Promise as Charlie hovered over his neck. Though he was small and flighty, George was also safe and kind so Charlie felt safe as his legs beat the ground desperately beneath him.

Turning to see Sebastian grinning at him, Charlie allowed his features to widen into a matching smile as they simultaneously turned left onto the polo field. After all, the horses needed to cool down after that run and the two boys needed to catch their breaths.

As they slowed to a trot, Charlie couldn't help but laugh. He loved racing Sebastian back to the stables; it was usually the highlight of his day. Breathing heavily, Charlie gestured to Promise up ahead and shouted to Sebastian, who had taken a little longer to stop cantering than he had with George, "She's getting faster; George was struggling."

"She's only going to get better. It would be nice, however, if you'd teach her some basic dressage; she makes perfect flying changes without needing to be prompted." Grinning somewhat cheekily, Sebastian saw Charlie's immediate shut down and laughed, reaching across to clap the shorter boy on the back gently when he caught up, "I won't force you but otherwise I'll have to get Sterling or Dante. I'm not trusting a Franco around any of my horses and we both know how I can't stand Sterling's can-do attitude. It's only useful before a match."

 

After putting the horses to bed for the night with their hay, Sebastian and Charlie sat with Merlin in his stable. The chestnut lowered gently to his knees before resting against the straw, watching the boys almost curiously. Sebastian approached slowly, reaching out a delicate palm before following it and sitting in between Merlin's legs. He smiled as his horse rested his head in his lap.

Having taken his phone out silently, Charlie took a few pictures so that he could draw the moment before resting it back on the floor and replacing it with the sketchbook and pencil that he'd brought with him. As Charlie began to sketch the outline, Sebastian looked up at the sound of pencil brushing paper and smiled when he saw the photo on the unlocked phone.

"Send me that, would you?" Their eyes met for a second as Charlie glanced up quickly to see what Sebastian was talking about before nodding and returning immediately to his book. He wanted to get it finished as quickly as possible because he knew that they would have to return to their Houses soon for curfew and part of Charlie wanted to be able to present Sebastian with the drawing straight away. He wanted to see his face light up at a depiction of him and his horse mere minutes before and his usual smirk widening into a fond grin when he looked up at Charlie with delighted eyes.

Eventually, he accepted the fact that he'd need a couple of days, at least, to get it to the standard that he wanted it to be and so, set the book aside before crawling over to join his friend. He sat on the other side of Merlin, wrapping his arms around his warm body and burrowing his face into the sweet smelling crest of his neck.

A few minutes passed in silence before Sebastian decided to speak up. He raised his head from where it had been resting against Merlin's forehead and looked at the boy with the white hair as one corner of his mouth twitched upwards slightly, "Charlie?"

Flicking his eyes up to look at Sebastian, Charlie adjusted his grip on Merlin's neck so that he could face his friend easily, "Yeah?" He reached up to push a strand of hair from his eyes, chuckling as it fell down again almost immediately and decided to leave it there. His cheek pressed against Merlin's mane, feeling the heat rising from the horse and every dip of his elegant head.

"Thank you." Charlie smiled as he realised that Sebastian was tired, hearing the slight slur in his words and watching his eyelids droop lazily over his green eyes. He couldn't help but think that it was nice to see; Sebastian didn't often allow himself to be vulnerable and Charlie felt as though the boy was really letting him in.

His face brightened the moment that he figured out that the brown-haired boy didn't really know what he was saying, "What for?" His expression hardened and realisation dawned across his face, however, as Sebastian gave his explanation. Charlie had always known that Sebastian wasn't the happiest person he'd ever met but seeing his friend like this practically flipped everything he knew on its head.

"For being nice. For putting up with me."

Was he really shocked that someone would 'put up with' him? For some reason, Charlie quickly felt the stinging sensation behind his eyes again as he shuffled around Merlin's body, taking Sebastian into his arms and hugging him tightly against his chest. What really scared him, however, was how Sebastian's body shook in his arms and how shaky breaths were drawn from his cracked lips, "Has your dad been getting to you, again?" Charlie knew that Sebastian's father was usually on his back about something and he knew that his mother did nothing to help. However, it still shocked him every time he saw Sebastian's outer shell cracking.

Sniffling slightly, Sebastian nodded into Charlie's neck as he attempted to keep his face away from view. He hated being helpless and he hated appearing weak in front of other people. Although he was glad he had Charlie with him to hold him, Sebastian was still glad that the stables tended to be empty at that time of night, "I called him yesterday. I'm sorry."

Charlie brushed a hand tenderly through Sebastian's hair, his long fingers disrupting the perfect quiff though he knew that Sebastian wouldn't care in the moment, "Don't be sorry. Why are you sorry?"

As he pulled away from Charlie, Sebastian wiped his face immediately, rubbing harshly at his eyes and sniffing angrily at his own forced smile. Pushing his hair back into place, Sebastian placed a kiss on Merlin's forehead before standing and turning to leave the stable, "I wanted to tell him I got an A. I just wanted him to be proud of me." He glanced back to Charlie quickly, obviously ashamed of his little outburst and attempting to move the conversation on with a walk to their respective Houses.

"Bastian, that's not something to be sorry for. Don't be ridiculous." Scrambling to his feet, Charlie allowed his hand to linger over Merlin's skin before he followed his friend desperately. He didn't want to leave him alone when he was feeling so useless and hated that he would have to say goodbye outside Perrault.

Giving Charlie a chance to put his sketchbook on Sebastian's shelf in the tack room, Sebastian waited for his friend patiently. He only had to wipe his eyes occasionally, trying to keep this discreet as they set off and out of the stable block, "I should have known that it wouldn't be good enough and that I'd get upset. Come on, I'll walk you to Andersen." Keeping walking, it took Sebastian a few moments to realise that Charlie wasn't next to him and eventually turned to glance at his friend. Charlie stood under one of the lampposts, he hadn't moved since Sebastian had told him he would walk him home.

"Bastian, no, stop." Running ahead a few paces, Charlie caught Sebastian's forearm and kept his eyes locked on his face. Sebastian tried to pull away briefly before accepting his fate and keeping his scarlet face out of the light, "It's perfectly normal to want your parents to be proud of you. What isn't normal is shaming your son for everything that he does. None of this is your fault, Bastian."

His forehead suddenly creased and his eyes glistened as he glanced towards the sky, "Can we stop, please?" Sebastian turned towards the few boys still wandering the paths for a moment before he wrapped his arms around himself and rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet. 

Watching as Sebastian's lower lip trembled and his jaw tightened, Charlie found himself stepping forward to hold him. He had wanted to stay strong and make Sebastian listen to him but he couldn't just stand there and watch him struggle, "Come on, let's get you into Perrault. It's closer. I'll send Nick a message and tell him to do the Andersen headcount and I'm sure Jack would do yours for one night."

"I'm sorry, Charlie." Sebastian fell against Charlie's shoulder, his lower lip drawn between his teeth as he kept his head turned down. The most terrifying part, for him, was how there were people watching him breakdown. He hated to be vulnerable.

"Don't be sorry."

 

Jeff sat at the other side of Nick's room, watching the dark-haired boy playing video games and grinned as the boy scowled upon losing. Charlie wasn't back yet so he hadn't been kicked out to Carroll though knew he was probably pushing his luck if he wanted to get back for Blaine's check. After all, that boy was already in a bad mood after what happened at the lake.

A screen lit up beside Jeff, text tone blaring through the room as Nick asked him to read it for him, "Charlie's asked you to do the headcount. Says he's with Bastian." His hand clutched the device carefully, worried that he would drop it and Nick would be mad at him. Jeff was certainly the clumsiest boy at Dalton and although the price of the phone was nothing to him, he knew his friend would be angry if he had to go without a phone for a few days.

Nodding, Nick paused the game and stood from his position on the floor. He crossed the room and offered a hand to Jeff, ready to help him up. Jeff, however, sat there and stared at his hand for a moment before pushing it away and standing for himself, "You okay?"

Jeff looked to Nick with a seemingly oblivious smile, wishing he would drop the subject and that they could just move on. His hands were shaking behind his back as Nick came closer to watch every small facial movement and assess for problems, "Yeah, I'm fine. Why do you ask?" Gulping, Jeff breathed unsteadily as he struggled to keep his eyes locked with Nick's, wanting to edge closer until there was no space left between them.

"Normally you ask for help up." As Nick stepped away to collect his blazer from behind the blond boy, Jeff let out a relieved sigh before straightening up again as Nick looked back at him, "You're acting weird, I don't like it."

Jeff shrugged his own blazer on, draping his tie around his shoulders for the walk back to Carroll as he knew that he'd have to leave if Nick was doing the headcount. Typing out a text on Nick's phone to tell Charlie that it was fine, Jeff showed his friend the screen and sent it when he nodded before handing him the device, "Well, I'm trying to be independent."

A snort escaped Nick as he giggled for a moment, watching his friend before his expression dropped when Jeff didn't continue, "Seriously?" His smile hardened into a frown as Jeff shrugged, shoving his hands into his pockets and waiting for Nick to leave the room first.

"Okay then." Nick led the way, down two flights of stairs and into the Andersen entrance hall. The hall was silent, the other boys in their dorms and working on projects, "You sure you're okay?" He grasped for Jeff's hand for a moment, staring into his eyes once again as he attempted to make sure that the blond was okay from his chocolate eyes.

Laughing as he pushed his friend back, Jeff threw on a grin as he reassured that he was fine. He couldn't deal with Nick questioning him and the stares were starting to become too much for the besotted boy. With a quick hug, Jeff waved goodbye and slipped through the Andersen door, attempting to close it quietly behind him. Seeing that no one was around, Jeff found himself sliding down the back of the door and clutching his knees to his chest as he attempted to gather his thoughts- why the fuck did Nick have to be so compassionate? 

After a few minutes of self-pity, Jeff heard footsteps approaching and looked up to see Charlie standing over him, "Nicholas being blind again?"

Frowning, Jeff moved over to allow Charlie to slump beside him and rubbed at his eyes. Considering the fact that they didn't often talk during classes, the pair had a strange amount in common and found themselves discussing their unrequited feelings at least once a week, "At least Bastian's gay." Jeff felt his phone vibrate in his pocket and smiled at the goodnight text from his friend, oblivious to the fact that he was still sat outside with the missing Prefect.

"You'd be surprised how little difference that seems to make." Looking down to his fingers as he twisted and turned them, Charlie let out a long sigh and leaned his head back against the heavy wooden door, "I may as well be female."

There was a moment of silence as Charlie closed his eyes and his eyebrows knitted together before Jeff decided to speak up again, "I wish I was female." 

This, admittedly, shocked the other boy as Charlie slowly turned his head towards Jeff, eyes narrowed and sparking with confusion, "What?" His mouth twitched into a half-smile as waited patiently for an answer, unsure of where this could be going.

Jeff rolled his head over until he was facing Charlie, brown eyes dull and filled with despondency. A dejected sigh escaped his lips as he scratched the back of his neck almost sheepishly, realising that what he was about to say probably sounded quite whiny, "Maybe then he'd love me." 

"Oh, Jeff, stop it! I'm still convinced that he already does." Shaking his head, Charlie reached across and pushed at the blond boy, his nose crinkling in amusement. Quiet spread through the pair for a moment as neither moved, they simply leaned their heads back against the door and watched the night sky. The streetlamps turned off in unison and Jeff allowed a frustrated whine to cross the space when he realised he would have to sneak back to Carroll in the dark. Chuckling, Charlie found his head shaking again as his voice came out bitter and bland, "I hate the friend zone."

Scoffing loudly, Jeff suddenly started laughing as the boy next to him began to giggle slightly, "Tell me about it."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Word count: 7320
> 
> That moment when the closest the UK 20th anniversary Rent tour performance is three and a half hours away.
> 
> Seriously though, thanks for waiting. I know that I take a long time to update but my laptop is pretty broken and takes forever to do anything. I can't write on my phone for some reason; I just don't feel inspired. Also, these chapters are rather long and I have to say, I'm pretty proud of myself for this story.
> 
> Thoughts?
> 
> ~ Rowan


	5. Dormouse?

Kurt had finally managed to convince Elliott to empty the other wardrobe and was placing his clothes on hangers meticulously. Nothing could be out of place and he really didn't want to have to iron anything so it was easiest to just attempt not to crease things in the first place. This was easier said than done, however, when he'd been living out of the suitcase for the past five days.

Strumming casually as he lounged on his bed, Elliott was busy tuning his guitar and paying little attention to what Kurt was up to; he was a little grouchy after Kurt had told him to pack his top hats even closer together, having voiced his worries that one of them would become misshapen. Eventually, the music stopped and Kurt turned to see his friend staring at his phone in confusion, "Hey, Kurt, did you know that Blaine went home for the weekend? Apparently Wes is going to be in charge whilst he's gone." He swung the guitar over the edge of the bed and rested it carefully against the side of the mattress to push himself up.

The chestnut-haired boy stopped what he was doing for a moment, shivering slightly as he straightened his back and and reached to grab his phone from his nightstand. Blaine had most likely posted a snapchat of a plane wing or sent something to the group chat. He knew that Blaine's family could be a little difficult and he knew that he didn't go home often because he didn't enjoy the attempts to set him up with girls so the sudden development worried him greatly. They were best friends; Blaine would have told him if he'd known sooner. His heart drummed as he scrolled through snapchat, trying to find Blaine's story and seeing that he'd posted a selfie with the dog filter.

Pausing, Kurt looked up to see Elliott standing and making his way to their sofa. He decided to leave the unpacking for now- he'd lasted a week, it could wait a little longer, "How do you know that he's home?"

"For a start, he looks bored out of his mind and he doesn't usually change out of his uniform on a Friday evening but I also happen to know where he is." Elliott glanced up as Kurt  hopped over the back of the grey sofa, resting gently with his legs tucked underneath him, "I forgot that you haven't actually known him long, you won't have seen his posts from LA; I swear, you two are practically an old married couple already and it's been- what, three weeks?"

As Kurt scoffed, he took the time to skim through the rest of Blaine's story, "Four weeks and two days." He'd been right; plane wings and airport Starbucks had been posted in abundance. There was also a relatively large share of selfies with dull expressions and pitiful smiles. 

Elliott offered a lopsided grin as he marvelled at Kurt from the corner of his eye, "Gosh, you're going to make such a clingy husband one day, whoever you end up with, he'll hate it. I can't wait to be the best man."

"Wait, how did you know I was gay?" Raising his head from his phone, Kurt's brows knitted together worriedly as his smile slipped and his lower lip found itself drawn between his teeth subconsciously. He didn't remember telling Elliott and although he knew that he wouldn't judge him for it, it wasn't like he'd had many good experiences with people just assuming at McKinley.

A snort escaped Elliott's lips as he looked back to his friend in disbelief, "With all due respect, Kurt, we had tea parties together when we were six. I know more about you than you do. Homosexual men also tend to have a pretty good gaydar." He chuckled lightly, pushing Kurt and throwing his head in the air as the smaller boy hit the floor with a thud. His laughter increased as he reached down to take Kurt's hand and pull him to his feet, still giggling as Kurt yanked him down and onto the floor beside him instead.

Grinning as he used to sofa to push himself up and brushing off his blazer, Kurt eventually offered Elliott a hand and wheezed as the dark-haired boy made no effort to pull himself up, "You're a bastard and if you don't help, you're gonna stay there."

The door creaked slightly as someone turned the handle and it was pushed open to reveal Dante and Luca deep in conversation, "Ti senti meglio ora?" Luca seemed adamant that Dante should listen to him and let out an exasperated exclamation as his brother continued to ignore him, "Per carità, sei duro come un mulo!" Eventually, he grabbed Dante's arm and spun the boy around until he was facing him.

Dante, however, simply sighed and pushed the boy away from him, "Sì, Luca, smettere di preoccuparci!" He didn't seem particularly angry, however, as he offered his brother a warm smile and reached up to ruffle his hair, knowing that it would annoy him.

Having stopped the moment he heard the door, Kurt managed to clear his throat and catch the attention of the Italians stood before him, "Can we help you, boys?" 

"Cosa?" Luca turned to Kurt and snapped, his frustration appearing to grow as Dante continued to ignore whatever he was saying.

Heaving himself from the ground and back onto the sofa where his phone lay, Elliott grumbled slightly to himself before Kurt noticed that the stream was becoming more coherent, "Didn't anyone tell you?" He unlocked the device and quickly began typing away as if nothing had happened, as if nothing were wrong, as if two people hadn't just decided to stroll into their dorm room.

Kurt's eyebrows rose curiously as he turned away from the twins, deciding to ignore them for a moment in the hopes of an answer out of Elliott, "Tell me what?" 

"No one knocks in Carroll." As Elliott continued to ignore the chestnut-haired boy as he played with his phone, Kurt felt his frustration surge as he let out an annoyed sigh. That was an answer, yes, but he wanted an explanation. Why was it always so difficult with these boys? They never seemed able to stay interested in a certain subject for long, "They never have a reason to visit either." 

Having managed to lose track of which twin was which, Kurt found himself quickly trying to figure it out as one of them started talking, "It's just a thing we do." He paid close attention to the lilting giggle at the end, how it went up in pitch and how the boy's smile remained light and friendly. 

Unfortunately, the other had noticed his confusion and decided to run with it. He plastered on a smile to match his brother's and began approaching. Kurt had a feeling that he knew who it was but decided that he probably wouldn't answer with a name anyway- just to be sure. His feet stopped a foot or so away from Kurt's and his head tilted teasingly to the left, "Are you lost, Alice? Are you confused?" The initial brother simply shook his head fondly as he allowed the scene to play out, not joining in, "Do you know who you're talking to?" 

No, Kurt was quite certain of it now.

He merely scoffed, turning to the side and winking at Elliott, who was simply giggling in the corner, "Luca, you mock me."

This appeared to floor the boy before him as his jaw dropped and his eyes glazed with shock. Blaine had informed Kurt that most Dalton residents, even certain teachers, hadn't bothered to learn which Franco was which by the subtle tells. Kurt had decided to make it his mission.

Breaking the silence, Elliott merely smiled and gestured for the twins to sit down if they wished, "I forgot you wouldn't be used to this. I've just given up on fighting them." Elliott looked up just to see the door swing open for a second time, showing Wes walking forward, gavel in hand and scowl at the ready, "Hello, Wesley. Emergency Warbler meeting? Have our spies reported back that the New Directions have finally replaced Kurt?"

A smile crossed Wes's features, shrouded by an air of smarminess as he kept his gaze locked on the twins. Luca still seemed a little thrown that someone had managed to identify him as his brother patted his shoulder with a chuckle, "I'm fine, thank you, Starchild. Just watching these two."

Suddenly seeming to notice Wes stood in the doorway, Luca jumped into action. He hopped forwards until he could bounce on the balls of his feet mere centimetres from the stand-in prefect's face, "Cappellaio! Have we been good long enough for Alice yet?" Beginning to extend his little hops until his feet left the ground clearly and he could jump on the spot, Luca wrung his hand's together, obviously excitable after being 'good' for so long.

Seeing his cue as Luca gestured to him, Dante immediately leapt into motion and grabbed Wes's hands so that he could attempt to fire the other boy up about whatever hair-brained scheme they had as well, "Blaine said we only had to be good for a few days!"

"Sì, and it's been cinque days!" Luca grinned as he spoke, struggling to remain focussed enough to speak English as a wicked grin implanted itself along his features, "Possiamo fare qualcosa?"

Sighing, Wes gestured for the boy to elaborate. He'd never bothered to attempt to learn any Italian for them, not when he'd have to start from nothing when they already knew a lot of his language. Kurt knew that Blaine knew enough to be able to keep up with them and keep them in check though he probably hadn't factored in how Wes would cope without that when he'd left him in control, "English, Luca."

Exasperation rang clearly across Luca's features as he had to take a moment to translate what he wanted to say. He wasn't fluent like Dante and often struggled, just speaking Italian when he could get away with it, "Can we do something?"

Wes shook his head as he swung his gavel in the air in frustration, obviously already sick of their antics. The chestnut-haired boy was suddenly very aware of the struggle that Blaine must go through most days, "Something like what?"

"Something like this!" 

Diving towards Elliott's bed and pulling four Nerf guns from beneath it, Luca threw two to Dante and the twins suddenly began to shoot wildly. They laughed as they swept through the room, being sure to hit everyone at least once though generally ignoring Kurt. He had a feeling that they were worried what Blaine would say if he found out, especially if they'd honed in on his best friend. 

Screeching as he made an effort to cover his hair, Elliott jumped quickly so that he could hide behind the sofa though raised his head tentatively when the rounds of foam bullets seemed to stop, "Where did you even get those?" Panic flashed between his eyes, however, when he saw an arm raise casually in his direction. Something hit and stuck to his forehead and sensing a note of finality, Elliott let out a sigh before pulling the last bullet from between his eyes and looked to where Dante stood giggling, "Are you quite done?"

Dante set to collecting the little foam pellets from where they had fallen or stuck. They could certainly afford to replace them but Kurt supposed it was a case of the more the better in a Nerf war, "We have a stash in every room. Yours was the only one missing but Alice's arrival allowed us to solve that issue." 

Furrowing his eyebrows together quickly, Elliott attempted to go over a time when they were left in his room on the day that Kurt had arrived, "Wait, what?" The twins merely glossed over this, however, waving it away as a boring question.

"Don't go looking. They're hidden far better in the other rooms." Dante grunted slightly as he pulled on a bullet that had suction-cupped itself to the wall. When it eventually came away, Kurt noticed a small mark left on the wall and Dante quickly covering it with a piece of sheet music whilst Elliott's back was turned, "We rushed Dinah's." He turned to Wes with an almost angelic smile, causing each boy in the room to snort despite the destruction surrounding them. 

Standing from where he'd hidden behind the coffee table, Wes brushed off his blazer and straightened his tie, folding his arms as he turned to the boys with a smile, "Just clear up this mess before you head down to the stables tonight, okay? Sundance and Midas can wait a few minutes. It's not exactly fair to leave it here."

Luca glanced to Dante from the corner of his eyes, a small smirk lingering for a moment before they stood to attention and saluted in perfect unison, "Yes, Sir!" Dante's bullets had fallen from his arms and scattered to the floor as he dropped everything to get into position on time, causing more giggles to erupt from Kurt, who fell back onto the sofa; he smiled as the Italian straightened his posture further, grinning that he'd made his new friend laugh.

Wes left the room, shaking his head and closing the door behind him. As soon as the wood had settled into the frame, the four boys began to laugh uncontrollably once more. 

"Mi dispiace but we were so bored!" Luca chuckled as he picked up a few bullets, watching as Dante scrambled to collect the ones that he'd dropped before they rolled even further away. He counted out the pellets as he dropped them into the barrel of his gun, concluding that he'd found about half of them before promptly walking out.

Keeping his eyes on his brother, Dante sighed as Luca left and promised to find the ones that he'd left behind whilst he fumbled to reload his weapon.

Kurt quickly shook his head, beginning to pick up the remaining bullets and gesturing that Dante could stop panicking, "Don't worry about it, just find yours. I can get Luca's. I'm sure Sundance needs some food." He offered a peaceful smile, allowing it to stretch further as Dante's face settled into a relaxed expression.

"Thanks, Kurt." He quickly finished what he was doing and bid the boys a farewell, apologising again for the mess that he had to leave though calmed slightly when Kurt urged him not to worry about it. He was certainly far more conscious of other people's feelings than Luca and Kurt had a feeling that he often struggled following behind his brother's brazen nature, "Ciao!"

Watching as Dante left, Elliott sighed and looked down at the mess at his feet, "You could have asked him to help, you know." He wasn't fond of the Francos antics, especially when they impacted on his life directly.

"He was busy, he wanted to get down to Sundance. I'm not cruel and it's not his fault that Luca just left" Kurt quickly bent down to collect a few pellets just before he could nudge them under the sofa by accident. He smiled up at Elliott, chuckling as the boy merely grumbled and set to work collecting the small foam pieces.

\---

Teddy watched as the painting before him came to life, its cruel face twisted and snarled until his father sat before him on the canvas. He wasn't stupid; he knew that he was at Dalton and that he'd forgotten to eat again. He just got so distracted painting and his diabetes meant that he didn't often feel particularly hungry. It was a simple fix. Just a quick trip down to the Carroll kitchen and he'd be fine.

However, a safe trip down to the Carroll kitchen proved to be a feat in itself. 

His feet shuffled awkwardly against the floor as the apparition of his father merely grimaced and hurled abuse. Sometimes, it could be so realistic that Teddy struggled to tell the difference between this and his father when he went home. However, he was at Dalton. He had to focus on that. Teddy was at Dalton and his blood sugar was dangerously low. Those stairs were going to be hell.

"Gosh, look at all of those needles. You're destroying your body!"

After managing to struggle his way to the door, Teddy finally began to really hear what his father was saying. Usually, he could just block it out for a bit but he was distracted by reminding himself that none of it was real.

"You're pathetic, Thea. You know that right?"

Biting back tears as he lurched his way down the corridor, Teddy raised a hand to wipe them away though found that his arm felt somewhat numb. He growled quietly, angry at himself for letting it happen again. He knew that he should have set reminders on his phone after last time and started keeping snacks in room. Although, with Jeff there half the time, they probably wouldn't last until he needed them anyway.

"Your sisters don't have any problems, why should you?"

Leaving the wooden walkway and reaching the marble staircase, Teddy tipped forwards slightly and found the banister pressing into his stomach before pushing back and resting his forehead against the cool metal instead. He couldn't take it anymore. He couldn't cry, though. He wouldn't cry, though.

"For fuck's sake, stop crying, Theodora!"

Teddy felt his eyes burning before squeezing them closed as the usual dejection from his father shattered within him. Of course, he was used to it but it didn't mean that it hurt any less. He eventually allowed his body to fail, simply landing in a heap on the landing and leaving his face pressed against the cold bars of the banister. It was comforting and the floor grounded him. At least when he was sat down, he knew that he couldn't be spinning.

"Ghiro?" 

The familiar, lilting accent came from further back on the hallway, meaning that Teddy would have to turn his head to see him. For some reason, that didn't seem to want to work.

"Teddy?" 

Again the voice came, though closer this time. He could hear cautious footsteps so he assumed that they were walking and the fact that there were no screams in the background meant that the other wasn't running around on some rampage right at that moment.

Strong arms eventually lifted him from below the armpits, gripping him to their chest and turning him so that he could look at their face. Teddy smiled weakly when he saw Dante, allowing his forehead to rest carefully against his shoulder, "Theodore!" A small sting hit Teddy's cheek as Dante attempted to keep him awake, hoisting him up and into his arms before making his way down the stairs as quickly as possible, "When did you last eat?"

Teddy's head lolled forwards slightly, resting on Dante's collarbone in his drowsy state, "This morning?" He couldn't really remember though he assumed that it was that morning. He'd have probably been dead already if he'd left it longer- perhaps in some form of coma at best.

"God, Teddy, it's nine pm! You need to look after yourself better, you're going to kill yourself if you carry on." Dante managed to lift the weak boy onto the kitchen counter, quickly tearing open the first Mars bar he could find and making sure that he was eating it before working to find something else. Having tried to hide it in the past, Teddy had quickly learnt that Dante knew him well enough to know when something was seriously wrong. Well, anyone could to this extreme but Dante often picked up on it when the signs were just beginning to surface.

Having finished the Mars bar relatively quickly, Teddy had perked up slightly and reached towards his locker as a symbol for his friend. Without needing anything else, Dante input the combination that he'd memorised and pulled out the boy's blood glucose monitor. Careful when passing it to Teddy, Dante helped him to insert the test strip and prick the side of his finger; he sat beside him, wanting to look over his shoulder at the results, "60 mg/dL."

Immediately turning to raid his own locker, Dante turned his head over his shoulder briefly to ask Teddy, "More food?"

Only a brief reply was necessary as he carefully replaced his device into the holder, "More food." However, the nervousness and rapid heartbeat had faded, along with his shaking so he knew that he was getting stronger. He didn't feel quite so weak, anymore.

Dante soon returned with plenty of chocolate bars and sweets. He began unwrapping them, shoving them towards Teddy in an attempt to make him eat them.

"Dante, I may or may not be going into hypoglycaemic shock but I will not eat your rubbish." Teddy pushed himself from the counter cautiously, wincing as his feet hit the ground and the sensation jarred through his tired legs. He made it to the fridge and searched for something he'd stashed in the back, behind the bags of ice that Blaine kept on hold for accidents. Pulling out a child's juice box, Teddy poked the straw through the top and began to drink. He didn't want to have to eat a meal so late so the juice box would have to tide him over until the next day.

Watching worriedly, Dante's nose wrinkled as he laced his eyebrows together, "Are you sure that's enough? Seriously. Eat my rubbish, I don't care about it!"

Amusement flickered onto Teddy's lips as he shook his head adamantly; he didn't want to eat anymore than he had to. He'd have nightmares. He trusted Jeff, he didn't mind that boy knowing that he didn't sleep well but Teddy didn't want Dante to know; he'd just tell Luca. If Luca knew then the whole school would know within minutes.

Teddy didn't tell Dante about the hallucinations either.

"Do you need help with the stairs again?" His fingers brushed the countertop by Teddy's resting hand briefly, barely ghosting the smooth surface as Dante came to a rest beside the tired boy. He offered a faint smile, glad to have found him at the top of the stairs though his mind couldn't help running over what would have happened if he hadn't. Dante knew that Teddy's family wasn't great and he knew that the smaller, fragile boy could be sad a lot so he couldn't help but think of the worst.

Shuffling his feet, Teddy began to focus on a crack in the floorboard. The twins had left it after they decided to run around Dalton playing pirates with pots and pans. Dante's 'helmet' had fallen off and the heavy pan had left a rather vicious crack in the wood, "Could you? Just to make sure?"

Dante merely smiled as Teddy readjusted the lapels of his blazer, completely uncomfortable with the situation, no matter how necessary, "Course, c'mon."

The two boys made their way slowly from the kitchen, making little sound in their leather shoes as they attempted not to alert Wes to their presence. He'd filled in for Blaine before and was known to be stricter than their usual loveable rogue of a prefect. Although it was the weekend and he had no actual control over their curfew, you could never be sure with Wes.

However, their concern softened into fond eye rolls as they heard the telltale sounds of video games and popcorn in the common room. Wes had dropped the gavel for a moment and was smiling through the buzz of conversation as it passed through the Carroll common room.

Teddy immediately straightened his posture, removing his weight from Dante as their fellow Warblers greeted the pair with hearty welcomes. He fell back onto a sofa, beside Jeff and Nick; Nick's presence did occur as somewhat odd to him as the boy was no Carroll though it didn't really surprise him. There had been many nights in which he had heard Nick sneak into their room to simply lie next to Jeff when his roommate had assumed that the blonde was sleeping soundly. The Francos had probably dug him a tunnel so that he could get back and forth without being seen by the teachers.

Smiling up at Dante when the boy rested carefully against the arm of the sofa that Teddy was leaning on, he allowed his eyelids to flutter daintily closed. He wasn't particularly tired anymore and he knew that his blood sugar was fine, he was merely content. He just wanted to enter that moment and live in it forever. Surrounded by friends, without a care in the world.

He knew that it would never last but he could enjoy it for now. Teddy would have to go home eventually. He could stay at school for as many half terms as he liked but his parents would never allow him to stay over the Christmas break and the school certainly wouldn't take him over the long summer. 

Regardless of his current situation, Teddy knew that his happy little bubble would burst as soon as his father could sink his claws into it. His parents may not know he was on medication for it yet but they would surely notice a change in person. His voice, for instance, had changed quite a lot. They wouldn't be happy; they hadn't been happy when he'd told them and the fact that he'd gone behind their back would just be another punch to the gut. They didn't even know he was at Dalton.

\--

Straightening his spine as he noticed one of the Warblers pulling out the two hairbrushes they often used as microphones when practising for performances, Jeff felt the corners of his mouth twitch before leaping from his place between Nick and Teddy. If musical karaoke was happening, it was an unspoken rule that he would be the maestro as the introducer of the Carroll boys' favourite game.

He giggled curtly, accepting the hairbrushes from a boy donning the red badge of Carroll and quickly unlocking his phone to connect it to their television set. Jeff grinned as he pulled up YouTube and watched as Wes slammed his gavel on the little sound block on his desk, gathering the attention of the surrounding Carrolls.

"Attention on our maestro, if you will, Warblers." A smirk settled across Wes's cheeks as his eyes landed on Nick in the crowd, raising his eyebrows for a second as a warning. The Carrolls who were not Warblers could partake if they wished though they rarely did so instructions were generally directed to the singers of the room. He tapped the sound block once more, eliciting groans from those who had already been listening, before backing down and taking his seat.

Approaching the centre of the room, Jeff pursed his lips as his eyes brightened when the room fell silent, "Most you know the rules. However, I shall explain for the sake of Mr Hummel. Musical theatre only. If you wish to take part then you may leave your request with Mr Wesley and Mr David to my left. Now, Mr Duval, care to help me get started?"

Hollers and shouts came in abundance as Nick feigned bashfulness on his way to take the second hairbrush from Jeff. The music to Take Me or Leave Me began to play from the tv as Jeff tapped his phone, smirking when Nick laughed at the choice. A silent moment was taken between the pair to decide on parts though was settled quickly as Nick began to sing, "Every single day I walk down the street, I hear people say, "Baby, so sweet!"" Jeff watched his bashful act drop in an instant, quickly turning into the kind of cocky arrogance required; his best friend had always been a wonderful actor.

Scoffing as Nick came up to where Jeff had taken a seat on Wes and David's table, Jeff couldn't help but laugh as Nick's light eyes widened with innocence, "Ever since puberty, everybody stares at me; boys, girls, I can't help it, Baby." He simpered, rolling his eyes as Nick rested his palms on either side of him and brushed their noses together jokingly, "So be kind and don't lose your mind- just remember that I'm your baby!" Tousling Jeff's hair, Nick quickly spun around and unknowingly left his friend somewhat breathless.

"Take me for what I am, who I was meant to be," As Nick sung out to their peers, Jeff couldn't help but smile. Even if karaoke nights were the only times Jeff would ever feel like the butterfly feeling was mutual, at least he had that, "and if you give a damn: take me, Baby, or leave me."

Whistles could be heard as Nick came closer to Jeff, until their noses nudged again, though Jeff didn't hear any of them. He was far too busy watching his friend's lips form the words, "That's what I said . . . Take me, Baby, or leave me."

The dark-haired boy leaped away, smirking as the Warblers clapped when Jeff found himself leaning forward slightly into thin air, "A tiger in a cage can never see the sun."  Warblers scattered quickly, laughter radiating from them as Nick's feet hit the table that they'd been sitting on with a light thud, "This diva needs her stage, Baby, let's have fun!" He grinned, looking back to Jeff to see the blonde boy giggling slightly at his over-dramatic nature.

Jeff's face lightened every time the Andersen boy smiled at him, struggling to remain composed and in character as he listened to Nick urging him to just let go and love him unconditionally for who he is. The Carroll had always thought that they took the wrong parts on this song. Nick was the tidy one. He never let things get out of hand and remained meticulous at all times. He even called his girlfriend at the same time every week, getting worried if she decided to call at any other time for whatever reason. Having spoken to her a few times, Jeff knew that she had a few doubts. She wanted someone willing to make surprise visits and grab her hand at random moments; someone to kiss her no matter their location, whether it be sweet or subversive. She wanted someone with the capability to be spontaneous but Nick's planning didn't allow for that. Jeff wasn't cruel. Of course, Jeff would never tell his friend that, even if a breakup would help his chances. He knew that spontaneity wasn't a regular part of Nick's nature and that he wouldn't be able to change that. 

Suddenly, Jeff found himself being pulled upright until his chest pressed against Nick's and their hairbrushes were crushed between them. He'd been distracted and hadn't realised that Nick had continued to sing, "Gimme a kiss, Pookie!"

It didn't take long to compose himself and Jeff quickly shook his head clear to push Nick back with a finger prodding into his chest when he began singing, "It won't work, I look before I leap. I love margins and discipline." Eventually, Jeff pushed Nick hard enough until he was the only one left in the centre of the room. His demeanour radiated arrogance as he scoffed at his friends and smiled as the Warblers gasped around him, "I make lists in my sleep, Baby, what's my sin?"

His hands balled into fists as Jeff pushed every ounce of feeling he'd ever had for Nick into the next three lines, "Never quit, I follow through. I hate mess but I love you! What to do with my impromptu baby?" Jeff's voice cracked over the interrogative, his eyes squeezing shut to stop himself from getting overly-emotional. His crying face wasn't pretty.

Quickly snapping out of it, Jeff's arms fell from where he had raised them as his eyes fluttered open carefully, "So be wise 'cause this girl satisfies; you got a prize so don't compromise, you're one lucky baby!" He grinned as the boys around him whistled at his riff and pushed Nick back into the centre of the room to join the blonde boy. Jeff was having far too much fun.

Grinning, Jeff went into the chorus as Nick raised the hairbrush every so often to give off-hand comments. Nick had rested casually against one of the desks, inspecting the nails on his free hand as he dropped in staggered insults, "A control freak . . . A snob yet over attentive." He smirked delicately, looking up to see Jeff went for the notes with every ounce of talent in him, "A loveable droll geek . . . An anal retentive!"

Jeff licked his lips before taking a deep breath for their final verse together. He always loved this part, he got to tease Nick properly and always made sure to use each line to his advantage. Jumping onto the table where Nick had been before and pulling the dark-haired boy with him, Jeff felt giddy with fresh energy and got closer to the boy with every line. He eventually found their chest pressed together and felt Nick's arm tighten around his waist to pull him closer the penultimate line, "Take me, Baby, or leave me."

Feeling weightless, Jeff watched Nick drop his 'microphone hand' and flick his eyebrows up for a second, "Guess I'm leaving . . ."

His knees weakened slightly as Nick's breath ghosted his lips, allowing his skittering heart to thud harder as they joined together for, "I'm gone!" Jeff practically melted as the song ended, somehow managing to remain upright as Nick tugged him even closer on the final note of the music.

Cheers erupted from the Warblers around them as the boys laughed, clapping as Jeff felt Nick help his shaky legs down from the table by lifting him into his arms in order to set him down gently. He gave a lopsided smile, reaching up to ruffle his fringe once his feet were back on the ground and laughing with his friends quickly. Most of Carroll were quite aware of Jeff's feelings for Nick and the blonde knew that they were most likely applauding the display of affection.

"Is this a regular occurrence when I'm gone?" Silence quickly spread through the common room as her calm voice sounded from the doorway. Miss Carmine rested delicately against the doorframe as if able to be blown over, her rouged lips lifted into a vague smile as her eyes sparked with an olive interest. Often, she would spend the weekend in the teachers' wing of the Dalton halls of residence, as opposed to her usual rooms on the ground floor of Carroll so her sudden entrance was a shock to the system for the House.

Jeff glanced across to where Nick had frozen to the spot, too worried to move. Measures would be taken if she was mad at the blue-badged boys for staying up past the usual curfew but Nick was an Andersen. He should have been long gone, not singing in another House. It was likely that he'd be banned from at least one Warbler performance and there was also risk that could come to Wes for allowing the misconduct to continue.

Rolling her eyes at the panicked faces, Miss Carmine stepped gracefully into the centre of the room and took Jeff's phone, finding what she wanted before pointing to the floor and catching Elliott from across the room, "Come on then, Gilbert. Prove your worth, Starchild!"

A chorus of shocked intakes of breath and muttered giggles filled the space as the opening chords rang out over meticulously preened heads. Elliott was one of the Warblers' best members, everyone knew that. The challenge was jarring though Jeff had a feeling that Miss Carmine knew exactly what she was doing. A bit of motivation; let the star show off and see what the others are capable of after a bit of taunting. It was exactly what Jeff did with Nick in every duet at the start of every karaoke night, a bit of motivation to get the other boys moving.

The air lingered, thick and heavy with anticipation, as Jeff watched Elliott turn to see Kurt smirking at him gleefully. It didn't take long to transfer the expression from one boy to another.


	6. Be Happy, Alice

Collecting a hairbrush from Jeff, Elliott smirked and stepped forward, ushering his teacher back into the crowd and clearing a wide space. Elliott wasn't exactly a static performer. His face lightened into a smile as he raised the hairbrush slowly, milking the moment for all it was worth, "You say the price of my love's not a price that you're willing to pay." Cringing at his awkward English accent, Elliott grinned as hollers and shouts spread from the Warblers, his arrogant expression soon returning, "You cry in your tea which you hurl in the sea when you see me go by." The boy laughed, raising his eyebrows arrogantly to show off his riff and turning to face Kurt.

Elliott kneeled down so that he was level with Kurt, tilting his head to left and pouting as he reached forward to cup the smaller boy's cheek, "Why so sad? Remember we made an arrangement when you went away. Now you're making me mad; remember despite our estrangement, I'm your man." Laughing as the Warblers hooted at each 'r' he rolled, Elliott retracted his hand and stood, spreading his arms wide with a casual smirk.

"You'll be back, soon you'll see. You'll remember you belong to me." Backing away slowly, Elliott flicked his wrist over his shoulder when the beat kicked in, smirking as he heard laughter and turning back to see Kurt rolling his eyes with a fond smile, "You'll be back, time will tell. You'll remember that I served you well."

Spinning quickly, Elliott mimed pushing an imaginary fringe out of his eyes and couldn't help but break to grin as a few of the Warblers came in with a Capella notes, "Oceans rise, empires fall, we have seen each other through it all . . ." He turned to see Miss Carmine, directing the boys on the notes as he went, beaming as she winked at him knowingly. Elliott's favourite part of being a Warbler was singing with people. He'd always wanted to be in a band but his agent had said his voice was too powerful, that he should go it alone, "and when push comes to shove, I will send a fully armed battalion to remind you of my love!" As his accent went iffy again, Elliott winced inwardly though had to smile as the Warblers laughed encouragingly.

Continuing to sing, Elliott glanced around to see the Warblers either joining in or clapping along, some getting up to dance and grin at each other. This was his favourite part of performing. Getting people to join in and making them smile, "You say our love is draining and you can't go on; you'll be the one complaining when I am gone." Elliott found himself growing distracted as the Warblers whistled and clapped his high note, accidentally slipping out of the accent completely for the last half of the second line.

"And, no, don't change the subject, 'cause you're my favourite subject." As he turned back to Kurt, Elliott thrust a hand forwards to point at him almost threateningly, though softened it slightly with a cold smile, "My sweet, submissive subject, my loyal, royal subject." Coming closer again, Elliott put his hands on either side of Kurt's cheeks to squish his face and cause the room to explode into somewhat confused giggles, "Forever and ever and ever and ever and ever."

Running a finger along Kurt's cheek until it rested on his lips to shush his confused objections, Elliott backed off again, his tall quiff slightly ruffled from jumping about and immediately fixed, "You'll be back, like before. I will fight the fight and win the war for your love, for your praise and I'll love you till my dying days!" 

Elliott's initial sweet tone from the lines before quickly died, revealing what the others might say was more 'him' as he allowed his notes to extend further, "When you're gone, I'll go mad so don't throw away this thing we had, 'cause when push comes to shove, I will kill your friends and family to remind you of my love." Pulling Jeff and Nick to his sides, Elliott's smiled at them before drawing fingers across their necks as he turned back to Kurt, chuckling as the other Warblers laughed when the two boys slumped to the floor dramatically.

He couldn't help but smile, singing along to the music before urging, "Everybody!" to join in with him. Half of the Warblers continued singing a Capella as Miss Carmine split them, gesturing for part of the group and the rest of the room to join in with Elliott as he danced around, taking Kurt's hands and laughing as the room joined in.

As the music swelled and died down, the other participants quieted to allow Elliott to take the final line. He smiled, spreading his arms wide and putting as much into it as he could, regardless of how the original sounded. The Warblers laughed and clapped, cheering as Elliott took a dramatic bow, turning to face each side of the room, "Why, thank you, thank you!" His heart felt light and giddy as he came down from the high he got when performing, giggling slightly purely because he couldn't hold in the excitement.

\---

The night continued with performances from new musicals such as Dear Evan Hansen and also old classics like Hairspray. Kurt stayed quiet for most of the performances. He wouldn't have felt right taking a solo at his first time there and the only people he might have felt comfortable duetting with had already sang either on their own or their own duets.

Eventually, the clock had struck eleven and Miss Carmine announced that she would take the final song, "Now, as fun as this has been, I am still technically your guardian and you were all technically supposed to be in your rooms hours ago."

Her rendition of All That Matters from Finding Neverland was beautiful, poised carefully on the back of the grand piano as Elliott played, each and every Warbler captivated by the amazing talent of their coach. Each and every Warbler remained in awe that Vocal Adrenaline had ever fired her.

"Now, to bed with you! Nicholas Duval, just this once, I will allow you to stay in Carroll overnight though you'd better not cause any more trouble." Warning glare fixed on Nick, Kurt watched as Miss Carmine's expression softened into a smile, she'd never actually think that Andersen's deputy could cause any harm, "You can stay in Jeff's room, purely because our Prefect is not here. Under normal circumstances, I would ask you to stay with him though I believe that you're well-acquainted with Mr Sterling's dormitory anyway? Our deputy's already made himself scarce and I wouldn't feel right imposing you on him without his consent."

Kurt couldn't help but laugh as Nick and Jeff scurried away in panic. They both obviously thought that they'd been adequately stealthy whenever Nick snuck in through a window from Andersen.

As the common room emptied, Kurt sat back for a moment, simply marvelling that this was technically his home. The ornate furnishings and casual atmosphere were a strange mix but suddenly, Kurt really couldn't think of anywhere he could feel more at home, other than home, than with the boys he'd known for a week. 

"Hey, Kurt, I'm heading to the kitchen, do you want a hot chocolate?" Approaching quietly, Elliott rested a hand on Kurt's shoulder, causing him to turn towards the taller boy in shock.

After giggles and exclamations of surprise, Kurt grinned and jumped upright from his lounged position on the sofa, "Of course!" Although cheesecake would always be Kurt's first love in life, hot chocolate came in at a close second and anything to calm his active brain at that moment in time was well-welcomed. 

Smiling, Elliott hoisted Kurt up by his left hand, snorting as the smaller boy almost over-balanced on the landing, "C'mon, then." He led the way out of the common room, bowing their heads to Miss Carmine as they passed. The two boys pushed at each other jokingly on their way to the kitchen, tripping and slipping over rugs and polished, wooden floorboards, "You don't have any food in yet, do you?"

Kurt's face blanched as he suddenly realised the situation he'd found himself in, gulping quietly and tugging awkwardly at his pristine collar, "Oh . . . No, I don't. It's okay, I'll just wait whilst you make yours and-"

Laughter quickly filled the kitchen as Elliott pulled two mugs down from the top shelf, shaking his head at his friend and collecting the milk from the communal fridge. Thankfully, necessities such as milk were provided by the school, "Don't be ridiculous. A bit of hot chocolate powder isn't going to break the bank."

A smile lifted Kurt's features, settling as he hopped onto the counter beside the microwave where Elliott was heating the drinks, "Especially not a Warbler bank?" He couldn't help but laugh as he watched his friend struggling with the microwave. It was old and, as Kurt had been informed, practically bomb-proof; this being the only reason the Carrolls were allowed it. Apparently there had been at least seven other microwaves before the school had settled on donating the old one from their teachers' staff room.

After eventually managing to jam the door shut, Elliott rolled his eyes fondly and smiled, looking over to Kurt and fetching the marshmallows from a cupboard behind his head, "Never, now watch out."

When the microwave beeped, Elliott took the mugs and dropped marshmallows in them before gesturing to the door with his head, "You coming?" Although Kurt insisted on taking his mug, Elliott wouldn't let him as he wanted to show how much better he'd got at 'tea parties'. Elliott had always spilled his juice and ended up with it all over the saucer, "So, how are you feeling? Are you settling here?" 

Rolling his eyes and hopping in front of Elliott to pull the door to the foyer open, Kurt scowled softly and shook his head, "Did Blaine put you up to this?" He wouldn't be surprised if the certain Warbler had informed every Carroll student to watch out for him because he was 'delicate'. 

Kurt was not delicate. If there was one thing that Kurt hated, it was being treated as if he could fracture at any moment. Nothing was ever so bad that he could just start crying, not anymore anyway. Things had got bad at McKinley, he'd certainly let things get out of hand without telling anyone for too long but the boys at Dalton were nothing like the McKinley thugs. He never felt unsafe walking the halls at all and that feeling of security just seemed to grow every day as he learned the layout of the school.

"What? That dashing young man who is extremely concerned for your welfare for the average best friend? Of course not!" Chuckling quietly, Elliott winked at Kurt as he carefully manoeuvred the first steps of the grand staircase, "He's just worried about you, Kurt. It's quite sweet, really. I've never had a man so concerned, consider yourself lucky!" Elliott risked nudging Kurt's shoulder, wincing as one of the mugs dipped slightly to the left and a drop of steaming hot chocolate hit the staircase beneath their feet, "Well, hey, at least they're not carpeted. Take my handkerchief out of my blazer?"

Kurt couldn't stop himself from laughing as he reached into his friend's breast pocket to pull out the soft square of fabric. Nothing had changed, "Have the Gilberts been moving up in the world? A handkerchief with your name on it?" Laughing softly, Kurt bent down to mop up the spill on the stair before backtracking to Elliott's question, "I'm doing well, Ellie. Nothing's gone wrong or happened to make it otherwise. In fact, I'm better than ever because I'm not being thrown into lockers every other hour, anymore."

Scoffing, Elliott squirmed slightly as Kurt's frozen fingers brushed his shirt when tucking the handkerchief back into his pocket, "Well, yeah, I'm at Dalton. Seriously though, every student gets one after a week or two. They've probably commissioned yours for embroidery by now." There was a long pause as they began heading up the stairs before Elliott spoke up again, "That bad at McKinley, huh?"

A careful smile graced Kurt's lips as he watched the mugs dedicatedly, worried that Elliott would spill one again though also afraid to show his friend just how much it had affected him, "You have no idea."

Elliott frowned as the two boys reached the top of the stairs and began walking towards their dorm room, "I'm sorry I left you, Kurt. I heard everything went downhill afterwards. I seriously regret not being there for you." His eyelids sagged as Kurt allowed the corner of his mouth to quirk up slowly.

"Don't worry about it, Ellie, you couldn't have known. It's not like it was your decision to move away and go to boarding school, anyway." Expression softening as he held their door for his friend, Kurt shook his head as he watched Elliott set the hot chocolates down on the coffee table beside the sofa. He collected his cup, taking a sip and feeling his stress melt as he sank down onto the sofa, "Gosh, Ellie, I was going to change first but I might be stuck now. You make great hot chocolate"

Smirking, Elliott slipped his blazer from his shoulders and hung it from a coat hanger on the wall, "It's true but you should really be thanking Cadbury's, I just mix it with hot milk and marshmallows." He quickly unbuttoned his shirt, throwing it in the general direction of his laundry basket and kicked his trousers off, adding them to the pile. As he collected his drink from the coffee table beside Kurt, Elliott winked and did a clumsy pirouette for him, "Like what you see?" Considering the pair had used to have baths together, it would have been weird if they weren't comfortable over sharing. Kurt, of course, was not quite there. He would change in the bathroom, locking himself in their toilet cubicle so that no one could come in from the other dorm rooms. Elliott, however, was very different. He didn't seem to mind walking around in his boxers, cracking jokes about whether Kurt was interested. Kurt certainly wasn't and that was fine, Elliott wasn't interested in Kurt either, they were just comfortable together. 

"I hate you." Kurt laughed, using a cushion beside him to hit Elliott's backside out of his face before the taller boy took his drink and got himself comfy between his covers. Eventually managing to pull himself up from the soft sofa, Kurt set his mug down and collected his long-sleeved pyjamas, running to change in the bathroom before returning quickly with his uniform neatly folded. 

He wrapped his pale fingers around the steaming mug, taking a sip as he followed Elliott's gestures to join him on his bed for a bit. It had quickly become tradition that they would talk on Elliott's bed before Kurt clambered out and turned the lights off on his way to his bed.

Raising the duvet for Kurt to slide under, Elliott scooted over and set his phone down on the bedside table, "So, how was your day?"

A mischievous smile crossed Kurt's cheeks as he poked at Elliott's, cup resting casually in between his legs as there was no longer a danger of spilling it, "I'm assuming that's 'how was your day other than the last few hours we've been together?' because, otherwise, I think you should get your memory checked." He rested his hands around his mug, allowing what was left to warm his cold fingers as Elliott scoffed.

"Shut up." Placing his empty cup down on his bedside table, Elliott scowled lightly and rested his head on Kurt's, stroking his hand down his face jokingly, "Don't question my logic."

Laughing, Kurt pushed Elliott away before resting his head on his shoulder for real, fiddling with the weight of Elliott's fingers in his palm, "It was good. Except for the fact that Mrs Pravus is a bitch and I hate her. Bastian was there to help, though, so I suppose it wasn't too bad."

A long pause dragged out between the boys as Kurt waited for Elliott to say something, a little worried that he'd gone silent after being the one to initiate the conversation. Kurt suddenly felt like he wanted to disappear, thinking that he'd said something wrong as glancing to Elliott's face provided a harsh, judging expression. He didn't think he'd said anything wrong but then, he'd had it pounded into him with fists at McKinley that it was always his fault. Nibbling on his bottom lip, Kurt slowly made a move to leave the bed before Elliott finally spoke up.

"You like him?" Elliott's expression was difficult to read, confusing Kurt further as he considered the question and attempted to work his brain around it.

Shrugging, Kurt settled back down as it looked like Elliott wanted to talk about it. He ran his hand through his soft hair nervously as flicked his gaze around the room, worried to meet Elliott's glare as the boy was starting to scare him a little, "Well, yeah, he's nice enough."

He shook his head quickly, catching Kurt's hand to make him look towards him, Elliott held his gaze desperately, "No, Kurt, do you like Bastian?" The inflection on the specific word made it obvious what he meant and made Kurt feel stupid for not understanding beforehand. He suddenly realised how exasperated Elliott looked and had to stop himself for blaming himself and calling himself useless again. So maybe he sometimes still felt that way but that was something that he would never tell Blaine.

Raising his shoulders tentatively, unsure of what Elliott wanted him to say, Kurt struggled to get the words out as his nerves were kicking in, "I don't know, I don't think so, why does it matter?"

"Just be careful. Blaine might not be too happy about that one." Taking a shuddering breath, Elliott raised his brows before softening slightly, obviously realising that he was making Kurt uncomfortable. He nudged Kurt lightly, as if to prove to the boy that he wouldn't scare him again.

Kurt's eyebrows knitted together as he tried to figure out what Elliott meant by that, "They don't get on?" He knew that they weren't friends, that much he'd learnt from the visit to Perrault House and the way Blaine was willing to exclude him from things. However, it did seem odd that Blaine didn't particularly like him; Blaine had always struck Kurt as someone who just liked everyone. Bastian seemed nice enough though, Kurt had to admit, Blaine was the only person that Kurt had ever heard call him 'Sebastian' and get away with it.

Scoffing quietly, Elliott took an intake of breath, causing Kurt to think that he knew something he wasn't going to tell him, "You could certainly say that." He wouldn't be a Warbler if he gave all of the information on the first try. For some reason, though, Kurt had a feeling that it didn't matter how much he pushed, Elliott wouldn't tell him why exactly Blaine and Bastian didn't get on.

"Right, well, I'm going to sleep, Ellie. I'll try not to wake you in the morning, Finn's coming with more of my stuff." Kurt extracted himself from Elliott's duvet, smoothing it down, taking his mug and jokingly kissing his forehead before passing the light switch as he retreated to his side of the room.

Quickly sitting up, Elliott looked to Kurt with shock through the darkness, "More of it?" His tone was teasing as always, knowing that Kurt would get defensive about his things.

An exasperated sigh left Kurt's lips as he rolled his eyes, clambering into his large bed, "To decorate, Ellie, not clothes. If I'm going to live here it's going to look like somewhere I would want to live. Anyway, you're the one whose closet was overflowing when you had double the space I have!"

When Kurt heard nothing from his friend's bed for a moment, he took that as a sign that he had won the argument and began to wrap himself in his duvet as if it were some form of cocoon. Eventually, a reply came from Elliott that made him smile and bury himself further beneath the sheets, "Fair enough." Elliott's voice was not only drowsy but also apparently quite sore from his performance and their conversation as he was beginning to struggle to croak through words.

 

When Kurt woke the next morning, Elliott was already dressed and out of bed. He found him lounging on the sofa, phone in hand as he looked up to see Kurt pulling himself from bed, "Morning, Lazy." Scowling across at his friend, Kurt found the clothes he'd laid painstakingly out the night before, glad for an excuse to wear something other than a Dalton blazer for once, and rushed to the bathroom.

Shouting through the door, Kurt carefully began his morning routine, combing his hair and using Ultra Clutch hairspray to hold it up, "Shut up, you're never normally up until you have to be."

A moment of silence fell between the pair as Kurt moisturised his face, eventually pulling Finn's old top over his head and replacing it with a black button-up shirt with long sleeves. After a few seconds, Elliott spoke up again, his voice seemingly straining to raise properly without prior warm-up, "True but it's late and Finn and someone called Rachel are already here. You slept in but you looked like you needed it so I turned your alarm off and told them to wait in the common room."

Finally checking his watch, Kurt realised just how late it was and hurried to fasten his grey waistcoat and wriggle his way into his trousers, "Oh my god, Elliott, you let me sleep in? You're a dick!" Kurt checked his hair in the mirror one last time and ran out of the bathroom with his concealer and powder in hand to the mirror on his desk. He quickly dabbed on the concealer, blending it into his skin with his ring finger and powdering over it lightly as Elliott watched in fascination. The two boys had promised to help each other with makeup as they had both learned over the week of living together that they were both good at different aspects. For example, Kurt was good at subtle and Elliott was good at eyeliner and highlight.

"For being concerned about your welfare?" Elliott scoffed as he watched Kurt knock the powder off his brush and close the little palette, leaving them on his desk for later as he turned to glare at Elliott, "Bet you don't mind when it's Blaine."

A small smile flickered across Kurt's features for less than a second as he pulled on his white boots, dipping his head to hide the heat creeping into his cheeks, "Shut it, Starchild." He pushed Elliott away on his way to the door as the boy bombarded him with teasing bear hugs, taking Kurt's blush as confirmation that he liked the boy.

As he made his way down the elegant staircase, Kurt couldn't help but laugh as he heard Rachel singing from the common room. It really didn't take her long to make people listen to her. He walked in to find Rachel finishing her song with Nick at the piano, Finn hiding in a corner and lowering his face to hide the shame burning behind his eyes at his obnoxious girlfriend. 

When Rachel turned slightly to bow to Finn and caught Kurt's gaze in the doorway, a shrill squeal escaped her lips so high-pitched that Nick had to cover his ears from beside her, "Kurt Hummel, what time do you call this? We have been waiting all morning!" She sashayed towards him, arms outstretched to pull him into a tight hug before pushing him away and holding his elbows to look him over, "You're looking very you. I expected to find you'd changed your style to fit in with these private schoolboys but I'm glad to see that's not the case."

Rolling his eyes, Kurt allowed a small smile across his lips as he took in Rachel's outfit, "Sorry, Rachel, Ellie turned my alarm off. What have I told you about the sweaters . . . And the knee socks?" Plucking at Rachel's yellow jumper, Kurt sighed before shaking his head and stepping away to walk passed Rachel and towards where Nick sat at the piano. It was  Kurt's first weekend at Dalton and he had to admit, seeing the boys in casual clothes was certainly a shock.

"Ellie? I thought this was an all-boys school." As Rachel trotted along at Kurt's heels, the brunette boy sighed exasperatedly, having forgotten how insistent and irritating she could be.

Before Kurt lay his hand gently on Nick's shoulder until the boy looked up at him as he flipped through sheet music, still clutching his ear, he sighed as he turned to throw Rachel an off-hand comment, "Sorry, Elliott." He looked back to his friend quickly, taking in his jumper and chinos before leaning down to whisper, "You okay? She can be a little loud."

Nick laughed as he eventually lowered his hand when coming to the right page in his 'Waitress' songbook, "I'm fine, Kurt. I'm just not used to those octaves; we're in a boy's choir, after all. Though, I might have to get used to it with you around." Chuckling as Kurt blushed, Nick smoothed the page, tracing the words 'You Matter to Me' and placing his hands back on the keys.

Looking around the common room and seeing that a certain bleached blonde was nowhere to be found, Kurt reached down to the keys beside Nick and played a few notes of the melody from the page, "Why isn't Jeff here with you?"

A shrug rolled across Nick's shoulders as he studied the way Kurt's fingers moved and the patterns they painted on the grand piano, "Honestly, I have no idea. I was trying to learn this song and he said he'd duet with me. It was really helping but he ran out when Elliott brought your friends in. I couldn't go after him because I was corned to play 'She Used to Be Mine' and every other soprano song in this damn musical." 

Kurt drew his bottom lip between his teeth with a mischievous smile dancing across his eyes, glad that Nick couldn't see him, "Ah."

When Kurt stopped playing, Nick quickly brought his fingers to the correct keys and imitated him, finding the melody easier having seen someone else play it, "I love you for existing, you know that? I've been struggling with that for days." He repeated it again and again, obviously glad to have finally got it before thinking back to what Kurt had said, "What do you mean, 'ah,' though? Is something going on that I don't understand?" The boy smoothed down the pages again as he saw one of them threatening to flip backwards, too distracted to look back and see Kurt's delighted smile.

"In due time, Nicholas." Throwing the comment over his shoulder as he turned to walk back towards his brother, Kurt could practically hear Nick's confusion and couldn't help but giggle as he approached Finn, "Did you have a good week at McKinley?" He looked to the duffel bags beside his brother and smiled before looking back up to meet the taller boy's eyes.

Initially, Finn stood with his arms folded, a gentle smile passing over his face as he took in the sight of Kurt, happy in this new school, "What do you think? C'mere, l'il bro, I've missed ya!" Grabbing Kurt by the waist, Finn pulled him in for a hug as soon as possible, sinking his chin onto the smaller boy's shoulder as Kurt breathed in the smell of his home until they pulled apart. Finn always smelled like home. He smelled like orange air freshener and Carol's burnt cooking and the tyre shop and Kurt's dad's aftershave.

Voice distant and small as waves of homesickness suddenly hit him, Kurt fought the urge to pull Finn in for another hug so that he could breathe in the smell of his family forever, "I'm not your 'bro' and I'm certainly not your 'l'il bro,' we're in the same grade."

Laughing as he appeared to realise what Kurt wanted to do, Finn drew him in for another hug, stooping down slightly to allow the smaller boy to bury his face into his neck, "I don't care. You're short." They stood for a moment, only swaying slightly as Kurt struggled to stay on his toes.

Kurt sniffled slightly, feeling overwhelmed all of a sudden through refusing to cry. He stepped back, letting go of Finn and brushed his nose awkwardly as he glanced across the room to see Rachel at the piano with Nick again, "I'm not that short." Though Kurt knew his brother would just laugh and ruffle his hair, he always felt the need to argue that he wasn't actually short. So, he wasn't a 6'4" giant but neither were most people. In fact, Kurt was taller than three of his friends at Dalton and the tallest of his friends, the twins and Bastian, were only 6'2". Finn was the abnormal.

"Sure, well, anyway. Here's your things. I kind of wanted to hang out a bit but I have football practise so I have to be getting back now." Shuffling on his feet, it was obvious that Finn was a little upset that he wouldn't be able to hang out with his brother like he'd hoped.

Eyebrows knotting, Kurt reached across to take Finn's hand for a second before he gathered the two duffel bags, "Finn, I'm sorry. I wanted to hang out, too. Ellie let me sleep in and-"

Finn shook his head quickly as he interrupted the frail boy, "It's fine, he said you looked like you needed it . . . Look after yourself, Kurt, and let Blaine look after you, too. You got away, you deserve to let yourself be happy now." Patting Kurt's cheek and ruffling his hair before collecting Rachel from where she was bothering Nick to play more songs, Finn walked behind Kurt to the grand doors before they shared silent goodbyes and another hug that went on, for possibly longer than was comfortable.

\---

Sebastian sat in the moonlight with Charlie on the edge of the fountain, his friend's phone opened on the photo of him in that same spot all those days ago as he worked on the minute details in Sebastian's hair. He watched over Charlie's shoulder, excited to see the finished product as he knew it wouldn't be long until he was done. 

"A watched pot never boils, Bastian." Without raising his eyes from his drawing, Charlie had been able to sense that Sebastian was watching, causing the taller boy to scoff and ruffle his friend's freshly dyed hair. He had taken him earlier in the day to get his roots touched up and demanded on paying as he'd promised he would at polo practise. Making Charlie happy made Sebastian happy.

Leaning back slightly until he remembered that he wasn't sat on a bench and bringing himself forward again, Sebastian grinned and lay his arm loosely over Charlie's shoulder, "Pots boil when I just look at them."

A delirious scoff left Charlie as he looked up at Sebastian, his cheeky smile quickly fading as their eyes met and locked together for a moment. When he spoke up, Charlie's voice was soft and gentle as Sebastian watched his friend, "Oh, you're that hot, are you?" Sebastian was worried about Charlie as, although the boy was quiet, it wasn't like him to get shy when they were alone. However, the taller boy was quickly distracted.

"Do you hear that?" Sebastian stood slowly, retracting his arm and ignoring the visible exhale from Charlie as he looked out towards Carroll House, where he could hear thumping music. Running around the fountain to stare into the distance at the House with the red banners, "Are they having a party?"

Sebastian glanced back to see Charlie packing his sketchbook away before joining him to stare out at the furthest House from Dalton's main building, "I think so."

Gears turning in his brain, Sebastian stood, vigilantly watching the House from a distance, able to make out the people spilling onto the grass around Carroll House when he pulled his glasses from the pocket of his blazer. It wasn't something that Sebastian liked to let people know but Sebastian was short-sighted. He only struggled slightly with distances so he didn't need his glasses often and he didn't mind Charlie knowing but Hunter, for example, already teased him enough. He paused, watching the mess before shaking his head and removing the frames, carefully placing them back in his pocket, "Blaine's not here."

There was silence for another moment as the two boys stood watching the party from afar. Their eyes scanning the scene in the distance and trying to decide the best thing to do about it, "Are we going?" Charlie glanced up at Sebastian, watching the boy chew his bottom lip as he tried to make a flash decision.

"We're going." Collecting both his and Charlie's bags from their previous spot on the fountain's edge, Sebastian slung them both over his shoulder and set off towards Carroll House at a trot with his white-haired friend following soon behind his heels. He was sure to remain slow enough that Charlie could keep up, knowing that the boy often struggled and complained about Sebastian's long legs.

As they reached the grand building, the boys slowed to a walk as they pushed passed the crowd of Dalton students at the door to get into the entrance. The music was pounding and red, plastic cups littered the surfaces in the House as Charlie and Sebastian searched for the likely culprits.

It didn't take long to find Dante and Luca in the common room, passing out cups of 'cola.' However many times they called it 'cola,' it didn't hide the rainbow of alcoholic bottles lining the lid of the grand piano.

Sebastian muttered French profanities under his breath as he made confident strides towards the pair, taking Luca by the arm and leading him to a quieter corner. Dante had followed along with Charlie as soon as he'd seen the looks on their faces, "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Shuffling to attempt to pull away from Sebastian's grip, Luca chuckled as he glanced around them with a somewhat dazed look in his eye, "Partying?" The boy quickly broke into deranged giggles, obviously finding what he'd said to be absolutely hilarious. In that moment, Sebastian began to worry that alcoholic 'cola' wasn't the only mind-altering substance being passed around.

"You realise you could be expelled for this? Probably just suspended but if I'm right and you're high, you'll never see this school again." Sebastian tried to hold Luca's gaze as he stared anyway but at the Perrault Prefect.

Disjointed giggles escaped Luca again as he finally managed to pull his out from Sebastian's hand. His pupils were unfocused and dilated, swimming in Luca's glazed over expression, "Well. We have a new student . . . But mostly because why the fuck not?" Luca began stumbling away to the impatient queue that had formed at the piano, waiting for refills from the boy who could barely stand up.

Sebastian's words left his lips in a growl as he angrily pulled his phone from his back pocket, calling after Luca, only to be dismissed with a distracted wave of the hand, "I haven't even seen Kurt, don't you dare pin this on him!" Turning back to Charlie with disbelief at the boy's blatant arrogance, Sebastian caught sight of Dante still trying to process.

"High?" The blonde boy seemed to be struggling with the word; he'd obviously never heard it used in that context and, honestly, that was reassuring to say the least.

As innocent as Dante appeared to be in the situation, Sebastian wasn't exactly in the mood for helpful explanations as he snapped at the boy almost immediately, "Yes, Dante. High. Stoned. Blasted. Baked like a fucking cake! Do you get it now?" Whipping around again to face the less innocent twin, Sebastian snarled and raised his voice just enough to be heard over the music, "Shut it down! We're calling Blaine."

Sebastian turned back to Charlie, allowing Dante to go and try to kick people out. The white-haired boy seemed in shock as he watched Luca from the other side of the room who, although had stopped handing out drinks, was doing nothing to attempt to stop the party, "He's probably high." 

Rolling his eyes, Sebastian watched the boy with his friend, sighing as he appeared to think about it and tucked his phone back into his pocket, "He's definitely high. Could you call Blaine? I have a feeling he won't answer if I do it." Gesturing for the smaller boy to get his phone, Sebastian waited patiently as he scanned the crowd, shaking his head every so often when he saw a Perrault boy disgracing himself.

Turning the volume on his phone all the way up so that they could hear and putting Blaine on speaker when he answered, Charlie let out a sigh of relief when he heard Blaine's confused greeting through the device, "Blaine? Yeah, it's Charlie and Bastian. I don't know if you've checked Snapchat but the Francos have thrown a party and it's getting pretty out of hand." Raising his voice and repeating what he'd said for Blaine to be able to hear, Charlie glanced to Sebastian with a worried expression as they heard Blaine's disbelief.

"Shit. I should never have left. Don't worry, I'm almost home. I'll be there in five minutes. If you could do your best to quell it for now, that would be great?" They could hear Blaine's stress down the line, muffled by the music and the sounds of a car from Blaine's end.

Sebastian chuckled as Charlie nodded before realising that Blaine couldn't actually see him, "Sure. We've been trying to do that. Thankfully, there aren't many Grimm and our boys will listen to us when we tell them to leave. It's the Carrolls we're struggling with, actually." It was probably for the best that Charlie had failed to mention the likelihood of drugs in circulation as Sebastian didn't think that Blaine's heart would be able to handle it.

There was silence for a moment before a prolonged sigh and Blaine's voice, muffled as if through his hand, "Why am I not surprised?"

 

Sebastian and Charlie had gathered the twins, positioning them in the middle of the entrance hall for Blaine's arrival and refusing to allow them to leave. When Luca had asked why, Sebastian had been adamant that, "Blaine is pissed. He doesn't want to be looking for you before he shouts at you."

When the boys heard the scraping of suitcase wheels on marble steps, the twins straightened their backs immediately and painted charming smiles on their faces in unison. Blaine appeared soon after, face hardened like steel as he took in the four boys stood in front of him. There was quiet between them for a moment, only disturbed by Dante awkwardly clearing his throat and the pounding music resonating through the House. Eventually, Blaine spoke up, "What the hell did you think you were doing?" His voice was quiet and careful, ready to explode though holding it back as best as he could.

As soon as Luca spoke up, Sebastian couldn't believe his ears. He tutted at the Italian boy, cuffing him over the head for his ignorant response of, "Throwing a party."

Blaine bristled, his muscles tense and quivering with indignation, "I don't need sarcasm now, Luca, thank you very much. You two are going to send everyone home and clean up the mess tomorrow morning. Do you understand?" As the boys nodded profusely, turning and scampering to cut the music, Blaine turned towards Sebastian and Charlie, glancing at the tall boy for only a moment before focusing his attention on the Andersen Prefect, "Thank you, Charlie. Could you keep an eye on them?"

Rolling his eyes as Blaine blanked him, Sebastian nodded along for Charlie, who was busy questioning the boy with the gelled hair as he began trotting up the grand staircase, "Of course but where are you going?" Charlie raced to the bottom of the banister, confused as to why the Carroll Prefect was leaving them to deal with the mess going on in his House.

"To find Kurt." Pausing at the top of the stairs to shout back down, Blaine looked like rage was sweeping over him as he pulled the handle from his suitcase to roll it along the hall, "The poor thing'll be out of his mind."

Sebastian shrugged as the boy disappeared from sight, unsure as to why Kurt would be 'out of his mind,' but just happy that Blaine had been too distracted to notice just how out of it Luca quite obviously was. Prefects helped their students but he doubted Blaine would cover Luca's possible drug habit.

\---

Blaine stood outside Kurt's door for two minutes before steeling himself to go inside. He knew what Kurt was like at parties and was worried about what he'd find. Eventually, the dapper boy straightened his bow tie, tugged on his cardigan and pushed the door open gently, "Kurt?"

At first, the brunette boy went unnoticed, worrying Blaine as his eyes fell to the bathroom. However, small sniffles soon rose from Kurt's bed, "Blaine?" Rushing towards the sound, Blaine found Kurt huddled in his blanket, his grey comforter pulled up around his face as he shivered through cold sobs. Kurt merely whimpered as the music continued to vibrate the walls around him, muffled but still audible from the party raging downstairs.

"Hey, shh, it's okay. I'm here." Clambering onto the bed slowly, Blaine pulled the blanket up to slip in beside his friend, arm wrapping firmly around the frail boy's shoulders, "I didn't know they'd throw a party. I'm sorry for leaving without telling you but it's okay now, I came home early." Blaine heart splintered as he watched Kurt, a boy usually so outspoken, retract in on himself. He rubbed soothing circles into Kurt's scalp, throat clenching as the smaller boy leaned his entire weight against him and still feeling basically nothing. 

Kurt nodded slowly, turning so that he could lie with his head on Blaine's lap, looking up at the shorter boy with a pitiful smile, "It's okay, Blaine, just stay with me."

Nodding immediately, Blaine adjusted his hand so that he could continue stroking Kurt's hair carefully, not wanting to spook the boy more than he already was, "Of course. Why don't you try to get to sleep?" He allowed a small smile to tug the corners of his lips up as he watched his friend, cornflower eyes gazing up at him as his skin flushed and he began to feel dizzy.

Expression softening, Kurt felt his way to Blaine's free hand, taking it to play with the weight of his fingers before muttering a gentle, "I can't." He looked away, embarrassment evident on his features as Blaine simply melted where he sat.

A simple smile lifted Blaine's cheeks once again as he grazed his thumb lightly over Kurt's cheekbone, leaning forward ever so slightly so that Kurt could hear his voice, soft and quiet over the music, "Want me to sing to you?"

When Kurt nodded, Blaine took only a moment to think of what he could sing before he knew the perfect song, "You think I'm pretty, without any makeup on . . ." Blaine had been working on an acoustic version of his favourite song ever since he'd met Kurt and performed the original that day at Dalton. Many people had come up to him afterwards, telling him that that was the most emotional rendition he'd ever done, regardless of how many times they'd rehearsed it and Blaine had known exactly why. Without even realising it, Blaine had done everything he could to impress the bashful boy he'd met on the stairs. He'd run through the halls for the first time since he'd started at Dalton, shown him his secret shortcut and spent the entire song gazing into the boy's pretty eyes. So when Blaine was singing, gazing at the peaceful face of the boy in his lap, he had to stop himself from leaning forward to taste his delicate lips.

After only a couple of lines, Blaine saw Kurt's lips move, his eyes staring into his as Blaine ached to just lie with him for the rest of his life, "Blaine?"

Pausing, Blaine smiled, his gaze soft as he glanced up upon hearing the grating music finally stop, "Yeah?" He looked back to Kurt quickly, seeing that his eyelids had drifted closed and his lips were parted drowsily. Blaine melted, his heart turning to water as he heard small breaths pass gracefully through Kurt's open mouth.

\---

The last party of the summer   
Before school starts again.   
The last taste of unadulterated  
Teenage angst and hormone induced fun.

A brunette quiff, scared and shivering,  
Backed into a corner. Large hands  
Tracing frail limbs, cool August air  
Ruffling through messy hair

As consciousness slips   
Silently to and fro.  
Wide lips and a relentless tongue  
Force and prise and dance

Through a mouth shuddering  
And thrashing for escape.   
The garden is empty,  
The guests have gone home.

The crime hidden by darkness. A rose bush, the only witness.

\---

Morning birds chirping in the trees around them, Sebastian sat with Charlie on a bench outside Carroll. The two boys had spent the last hour trying to get the rest of the boys back in their dorm rooms, hissing at the Franco twins every time something seemed to go wrong.

Sebastian was exhausted, his limbs heavy as he shuffled down in his seat to rest his head on Charlie's shoulder. The smaller boy stiffened for a moment before relaxing, resting his head on Sebastian's. They watched silently, seeing lights slowly flicker off throughout the rooms in Carroll and hearing the wind rustle through the trees. Sebastian breathed in the scent of hair dye drifting from Charlie and smiled, glad to have made the boy happy but missing his dark roots. Charlie's hair was cute when it was growing out.

Eventually, Sebastian sighed and stood, offering his hand which the small boy happily accepted. Feeling Charlie's fingers grip his as he pulled him upright, Sebastian couldn't help but smile as they began to walk slowly towards Andersen, Sebastian's thumb brushing the back of Charlie's hand occasionally. Sebastian felt every movement of Charlie's hand in his, felt the way he adjusted his grip every so often, the way Charlie seemed to hesitate before interlocking their fingers and the way he squeezed his every time Sebastian swung their hands slightly to brush their legs.

When they reached Andersen, Sebastian found himself glancing around at the floor when neither of them made any move to let go. After a moment of standing, Sebastian brought their hands up to delicately brush his lips against Charlie's knuckles before backing away to find his way to Perrault alone in the rising sunlight.


End file.
